Aegis
by x-SystemRestore
Summary: The Maple world is slowly crumbling. Times are dark and morbid. Krylin's army continues to grow and there is no sign of us winning. We, the Aegis, are the only hope the resistance as left. I just hope we're not the last...
1. Partners

**A/N **_Rewritten Chapter 1_

* * *

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Assassin_

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Beginning**

"_It's been over 50 years since the war began. I can't remember the last time I had a peaceful day. Krylin's army seems to be showing no signs of weakening. We are fighting a losing battle. Each day more and more of the dead are brought in through the South gate. Children and the academy students are not allowed there for such reasons. The ones that leave us and join Krylin are those that fear death. We let them even though our man power is dying rapidly. Why should we keep those that are marked as traitors…?"_

A calloused hand set down the iron tipped quill pen. A candle flickered and danced as the same hand grabbed the base holding tray. The candle went up and in a single puff of breath, the light was extinguished.

* * *

"Gosh! Hurry up Alice! You're always so slow!"

"Don't rush me any further Ada! This is how fast I could run! I'd like to see _you_ run with a giant polearm strapped to your back!"

Ada giggled and ran faster, just to tease her friend. "Better hurry or you'll miss our last examination!"

"Oh shut up!" The blue haired warrior didn't find this situation at all amusing as she ran after Ada. When Alice finally caught up to her black haired friend, Ada had already stopped.

"Why did we stop here?" Alice asked, catching her breath.

After a moment's pause, Ada finally responded. "Can you believe it Alice?" She looked up at the town's bell tower atop the church, brushing away her bangs that covered her right eye. "We're already starting to graduate the academy. If we pass this last exam, we get to serve with the elite, the Aegis."

Alice smiled at her friend's enthusiasm. "I guess so. I couldn't even get any sleep last night. Finally, we have the power to possibly end this terrible war!"

"Yeah," Ada replied, her voice sounding gentle. She suddenly turned sharply on her heels and ran away from Alice again. "You'd better hurry or else I'm getting there first!"

Alice widened her sapphire colored eyes in surprise. She clenched her fists and whined, "That's not fair!", before running off after the assassin.

* * *

"New recruits today."

"Mhmm, should be exciting I suppose."

"Only two this time around though."

Athena quirked up an eyebrow and faced the old mage she was talking to. "What? Why?

"Only two passed the written examination."

The silver haired elf gave long, heaving sigh. "We might as well declare defeat against Krylin if it comes down to this."

"Well, you did make the examination harder this time around." Grendel answered.

"You made up half the problems too you know," Athena retorted.

With a throaty, deep chuckle the old wizard nodded. "How very true Athena, how very true."

They both arrived at the large conference room. The grand wooden doors squeaked and groaned as they entered. Both Dark Lord and Dances with Barlog were already inside, each seated in one of the two large wooden chairs.

"About time." The thief instructor grumbled, sitting up straight as Grendel and Athena took their seats. He stopped playing with the steel knife in his hands and stabbed it into the hardwood desk, much to Athena's distaste. She grimaced as she took her seat.

"So sorry to keep you waiting, Dark." Athena shot back with a cocky smirk. "We had important matters to take care of before our arrival here."

"And what matters would that b-?"

Dark was cut off by Athena's voice. She read off a scroll of parchment. "It looks like the names of the two are Ada Diskenths and Alice Everard. Hm." She looked towards Grendel. The old mage bowed his head slightly and he raised his hand to give it a little wave. The giant oak doors slowly opened up without a sound.

It was probably the most intimidating moment of her life. Alice watched as the oak doors slid open to reveal the giant conference room. There was a long, wooden table, so intricately crafted and seated behind the table were the four greatest warriors in the entire world. She glanced over at her friend Ada and the black haired girl stepped forward, neither hesitance nor nervousness in her stride. Biting the inside of her bottom lip, Alice followed her friend and stood by her side as the doors closed behind them and they were directly facing the four warriors.

"Congratulations on passing the written exam." Athena spoke, her long flowing hair framing her beautiful face. The sun lit glass mosaic behind her made her seem like a goddess. "There is one more test awaiting you."

On cue, Grendel waved his hand over something on the table and it floated over to them.

Ada grabbed it and unrolled it. She skimmed over it and handed it to the blue haired warrior to read. Alice read it over and blinked. "Dark Golem?" She read out loud.

"Yes, defeat one of these and you'll be ready to join the Aegis."

The two nodded.

"Glad you understand." Athena smiled. "Please do us proud."

Both of them straightened up. "Yes ma'am!"

* * *

Alice felt the cool breeze upon her face as she looked over the moss covered land. There were a few loose stone bricks lying around, of which she assumed were parts of an earlier golem.

"White golems only huh?" Ada muttered. Her cold blue eyes scanned over the vast foggy area and saw only a few white golems lumbering by. "This is pointless, maybe we should have went into the Dungeon. I heard there's a lot of dark golems there."

"We can't. We don't know what else is in the Dungeon. What if it's something we can't fight?"

"Do you honestly think that?"

"Well maybe you never kno-."

She stopped talking as soon as Ada hushed her with a slight movement of her hand. They both stood completely still.

"Over there," Ada whispered. She pointed and at the direct spot, a dark stone golem lumbered out from behind one of the ruined temple walls. It's eyes glowed a fierce red and the ground seemed to tremble with each step it took. "Let's go." The black haired assassin jumped down from their vantage point and lightly dropped onto her feet. Alice followed suite and tracked her friend's every movement.

"We need to take out that middle orb."

The warrior nodded. She saw the orb have a faint glow of orange and it seemed to float in between the giant slabs of stone. "I see it." Alice released her polearm from the safe restraint and grabbed it. She brought it over to her front and held it in her two hands tightly. The dark blue polearm radiated beauty along with its crescent moon shaped end. The warrior was more than ready to take out this huge beast.

Ada was the first to move as she quickly dashed out from their hiding spot and charged at the golem. The lumbering giant noticed her and made a move to swing a merciless stoned arm at her. She quickly side stepped and leaped into the air. From her sleeves fell out two steelies and she tossed them. With pinpoint accuracy, the two gleaming, sharp knives stabbed into the golem's tiny slit of where its eyes were. The creature groaned and stumbled.

"Now Alice!"

Gripping her polearm, Alice rushed forward. With a loud cry, she swung the blunt edges of her weapon at the floating ball. It was shoved out from the golem and the stone monster fell to pieces instantly. Amidst the rumble of the fallen pieces, Alice hit the glowing orb to the ground and swung her polearm into a graceful arc before using the blunt edges to smash the piece of rock. The glowing stopped immediately. The warrior sighed heavily in relief. Her friend walked up next to her. She placed a hand on her shoulder and proudly said. "Nice I think we just passed our final exam."

Alice smiled back at her friend as she gave the smoldering orb a final kick. The piece flew a little. "Yeah…"

* * *

"I told you we made it too easy."

"Hm, like you did anything to help."

Dark Lord shot the female elf an annoyed glance. "I was helping with the resistance! I was away with the scouting soldiers."

"What's your point?" Athena smugly said.

Dark clenched his fist and angrily turned away. "Maybe this is why we are losing the war. You train a bunch of scientists instead of warriors."

"Aren't they the same? You'll need to be smarter than your opponent on the battlefield or else you'll be the first to die."

"Be quiet both of you." Grendel snapped out. "What matters is that both of them are coming back unharmed." He gave the air in front of him a slight wave of his hand and the giant oak doors opened up.

Both Alice and Ada stepped forward.

"Congratulations you two." Athena said with a graceful smile. She stood up from her seat and picked up the roll of parchment off her desk. "You are both enlisted in the Aegis Platoons."

Unable to control their excitement, both girls let out a loud "yes" and high fived each other.

"You will both be serving as martyrs."

Immediately, their celebrations drew to a close. Ada stepped forward. "But, I don't understand. Why? We did what you told us to do!"

"Yeah! We defeated a dark stone golem without any wounds or anything!"

Athena held a hand out to signal them to stop talking. Once it was silent, she explained. "No one fresh out of the academy can apply to be a platoon leader or an official member. They must serve as martyrs to current platoon leaders. Based on how well you could protect them is how you will advance through the Aegis."

"But-." Alice was cut off as Ada gripped her arm as a silent plea to be quiet. The blue haired warrior complied and closed her eyes.

"If we are on likeable terms, here are your assignments and your platoon leader partners…"

* * *

"This is stupid! Completely insane! We passed those damned tests with flying colors!" Ada gave a wooden barrel a strong kick. The woo splintered and nearly gave way.

"We-Well, Ada…maybe they're right. They know what's best for us anyways."

The black haired assassin huffed angrily and gripped the photo of her partner. She brought it up and looked at his face. "He looks like a bastard."

Alice walked beside her friend, gripping the photo of her own partner. She looked at it again and found him to be scary, frightening even. He had neat, nice black hair but what got her were his red eyes. How would she even get along with someone like that?

"There he is."

The warrior turned her head to where her friend was looking and saw a green haired man with similar green eyes. He was talking with a group of girls, or rather flirting with them. From the looks of his wild hair and clothes, Alice assumed he was a thief.

"Cedric, dagger master. More like player to me." Ada growled as she gave Alice a small wave before marching over to her new partner. Alice smiled when she saw her friend yank the green haired man away from the group of girls. She sighed and looked back at her own picture. For some reason, she knew it would be a long day ahead of her.

It was nighttime and she was walking amidst the darkness. Only a few streetlamps guided her way down the lonely Henesys road. Her polearm's hilt hit her against her back with each step she took.

"This is hopeless." She sighed, hunching her back as she passed by the town's church. "Maybe I should try tomorrow…I've already asked around everywhere."

"I'm disappointed." A low, prideful voice said.

Immediately, Alice widened her eyes and took her weapon out of its hold. "Wh-Who's there?"

"This is fantastic, my martyr's clueless and hostile."

The warrior spun around and saw a young man and presumably the same man she was tracking down in the photo Athena gave her. He had messier hair than he did in the photo and his vivid red eyes were quite frightening to look at during the night. His black long coat flowed behind him as he walked towards her. Alice raised her head to look at him as she attempted to ask him, "are you-?"

"Dante Kyudo." He finished for her. "You could put away your weapon. I have no intentions on fighting you."

Alice felt insulted. "Excuse me?" Her voice was full of disbelief as the grip on her polearm tightened so much that she was visibly trembling.

He looked her over, much to her own embarrassment. "They could've at least given me someone prettier," he muttered.

"Do you have a problem with me!"

He shrugged and glanced at her again before turning around. "And maybe someone who isn't so _flat_."

Alice couldn't believe it. She had to actually be this guy's slave dog? At a loss of words, she yelled, "you asshole!"

"Hm?" He turned around, just in time for him to be grabbed by the collar of his white shirt.

Her grip shook and her teeth were tightly clenched. "You…don't just think because you're special you could insult me. I'm your martyr and I won't protect you if you continue to-."

"I don't need one, idiot." He hit her hand away and moved back. "I'm fine by myself." He enunciated each and every word clearly. "No one. Now go find yourself another platoon leader to protect, Pancake."

Alice stood there as the black haired man left. She gripped her polearm tightly before slipping it back into its leather hold. She vowed to herself, first thing in the morning, ask Athena for a new platoon leader.

* * *

**A/N **_Yeah, I had to revised this chapter. For some reason, since I've uploaded this a few months ago, the scene dividers I've put in, have disappeared. I have no idea why. So, I've put them back in as well as fixing up some of the dialogue. I'll go do the other chapters as well soon. _

_Read and Review!_


	2. Care

**A/N **_Rewritten Chapter 2 -sigh-_

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* * *

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**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Assassin_

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 2: Care  
**

"Alice! Alice! Wake up! Ada is here to see you!"

"Huh?" The blue haired warrior sleepily rubbed her eyes and looked down at her little brother. The young boy seemed to be full of energy as he ran out of the room. Alice heard him clambering noisily down the stairs as she pulled the sheets over her head again. When he returned, he jumped up onto the bedside and shook her.

"Wake up!" he told her, dragging out the last syllable. "Ada's here!"

Alice sighed and got up from bed. "Alright, alright," she mumbled. She saw her friend standing in the doorway, leaning casually against the wooden frame. "Why are you here so early in the morning?" the blue haired girl asked, letting out a loud yawn.

Ada smiled and walked over to the bed, the soles of her silk shoes barely making any sound against the hardwood floors."So?" she inquired, "how'd your partner thing go? Is he nicer than you expected?" Ada raised her eyebrow when she saw hesitation on her friend's face.

"H-He's...nice," Alice mumbled back, fiddling with her blue hair.

Ada laughed and slapped a hand down on the warrior's shoulder. "You know you're a horrible liar Alice?"

Shooting her a glare, Alice sighed heavily and clenched the white bed sheets tightly in her hands. "Fine! He's terrible, okay! A complete asshole and a total sexist pig!"

"He can't be _that_ bad though, not as bad as my partner. He's a womanizer." Ada sighed tiredly as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I'd rather have a womanizer than a sexist ass." Alice climbed out of her bed and went over to a full body mirror she had in her room. What Dante said last night couldn't help but rattle her. She looked at her face and then glanced down at her chest. Discreetly, she looked back at her friend who was playing with her younger brother. Alice secretly envied her friend's full figure. Not so much that it made her see green, but just enough for her to feel that spark of jealousy. She dropped her head and inhaled sharply. "I'm going to Athena later to see if she'll let me change my partner."

"What? Why? You could deal with him."

"No, I can't. You don't know how terrible he is."

"Alice…I know you could overcome him. You've been in tougher situations before haven't you?" Ada asked, brushing away her black bangs away from her right eye.

"Yeah, but-"

"Don't go. If he finds out you tried to switch partners, he'll think of you as the quitter."

* * *

Despite Ada's words, Alice went to Athena anyways.

"No partner changes?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm sorry but its much too complicated to find you a new partner. We based the pairing on your strengths and weaknesses and on his strengths and weaknesses."

"But…I really can't work with him," Alice heard herself whine again.

The elf archer looked around with her cool blue eyes and brought her voice down to a soft whisper. "I know how Dante is. He doesn't respect anyone the first time around. You have to set him straight. You have to act stronger than him or else he'll never respect you."

The blue haired warrior nodded even though she knew the advice wasn't that helpful. "Okay…thank you, Miss Athena," she mumbled, biting the inside of her cheek.

* * *

"Apples! Three for a 100 mesos!"

"Get your fish here! One for 50 mesos! Freshly caught just this morning off Lith Harbor!"

Gripping her basket full of vegetables, fruits, and meats, Alice trudged through the marketplace. She couldn't stop thinking about what Dante had told her last night. It angered her and for some reason, it made her self conscious.

A lot of boys talked with girls her age. Even her friend Ada was popular amongst the guys back at the academy. Meanwhile, Alice never got a boy to confess to her nor did she even get a boy to flirt with her. She looked down at the dirt road and kicked it. Did she dress too homely? Did she act too manly that she in fact, scared away any potential boyfriends?

_'Then again…a girl swinging around a polearm can be intimidating…'_

Alice sighed heavily and returned home. When she was a few paces from her house, she saw the one person that had aggravated her, Dante.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, trying to keep her voice firm.

Dante looked at her and pushed himself off the wall. "Get dressed, Athena assigned us a mission."

"What? Really?" Despite the fact that she hated him, she could not help but be overjoyed by the fact that she could already be of some help to the Aegis.

Dante scoffed softly and crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't get so excited over anything, it's just a two day trip to retrieve information from the Dungeons."

Alice ignored him and dashed into the house. "Sean! Your older sister's going to go away for two days!" She shouted as she quickly dropped the basket of food on the small wooden dining table and ran upstairs. The floors squeaked with each of her hurried steps. As she quickly got dressed, her younger brother poked his head into her doorway.

"Where are you going?"

"On a quest for the Aegis!"

"Really!" He jumped up onto her bed.

Alice nodded, smiling brightly. She made sure her breast bindings were securely tied and she slipped on her black, skin-tight long sleeved shirt. "You can fix yourself dinner, right?" she asked Sean as she put on her tight black pants and fastened a little silver plated skirt over it. She put on the rest of her armor on her shoulders and knees as she grabbed her polearm. "Take care Sean!" she yelled as she ran out of the house.

"You're slow," was the first thing Alice heard as she closed the front door to the house.

She glanced at Dante and pretended to not hear him. All he did was scoff at this.

"Whatever, let's just go."

Alice ignored his snide remark once again. "So…where are we going?"

"We need to get to the East Gate of Henesys. From there on is the road to the Dungeon. Once we're in the Dungeon there's a magi we need to find that'll give us information on Krylin's army."

To her, it sounded all too complicated. But she figured it was better than killing someone. Once they exited the town, the forest became denser and denser. Pretty soon they had to walk through thick shrubs and this presented a problem for Alice.

"H-Hey! Could we slow down? My polearm keeps getting stuck on some of the branches…"

"That's not my problem." Dante carelessly replied, hacking away at the thorned branches with a small hunting knife.

Alice glared at him as she struggled her way behind him. "Bastard," she muttered quietly. After a while, Dante finally stopped.

"Are were almost there? My feet are killing m-"

"Shut up," he hissed. "We're being followed."

"What?"

Suddenly, Alice felt something fly past her ear and stab into the tree next to her. She trembled as she looked at the dagger dripping with a translucent purple liquid.

"Hurry up! Move!" he shouted at her.

Alice dashed through the foliage behind Dante, suddenly feeling as if her feet were made out of solid lead. Each step she took seemed tortuous and heavy. She finally made it out to what seemed like a small clearing. Dante stood beside her, gripping his bow tightly.

"You didn't notice anyone following us?" he snapped out.

"Like you did!" Alice barked back. "You're a platoon leader! You're supposed to be better than me!" She immediately heightened up when she saw him draw his bow back. A shimmering, yellow light gathered on the bow and formed the glowing silhouette of an arrow. He narrowed his red eyes at the tree he was staring at dead ahead. Alice wondered if the assailant was in the tree branches hiding until the moment to kill was at its greatest.

"What are you doing? Draw your weapon," Dante whispered through clenched teeth.

Alice swallowed harshly and nodded. Her hands trembled as she gripped the blue pole of her Eviscerator and brought it out in front of her. This was it.

"Even though this is only a scout, he's strong. Be on your guard."

Just as those words left his lips, a sudden whizzing sound filled the air and Alice saw a dagger plunged into the ground before her in the blink of an eye. She panicked and jumped backwards. Quickly she tried to get a grip and reminded herself that this was the chance to show Dante that she was capable of being a good fighter.

Skillfully, she brought her polearm down and deflected a few daggers that were aimed at her legs and feet. She glanced at Dante and saw him effortlessly shooting down multiple daggers at once. Silently she thought to herself on how much she had doubted his skills before.

_'He really does have the skills of an Aegis platoon leader…maybe even more…'_

"Hey!"

Alice snapped out of her own thoughts. Just then a searing pain tore through her arm as she was thrown back by a strong force. She fell to the grassy ground and writhed in pain. It hurt terribly and she scolded herself for being so careless in the midst of an ambush. With much strength, she tried to get up and ignore the pain in her upper arm. She looked at where the shooting pain originated and saw a dagger embedded halfway into her arm. As painful as it was, Alice left it alone. She knew if she were to take it out, there was a possibility she would bleed to death.

Her hand grasped her polearm and promptly let it go, feeling no strength within her injured arm.

She watched Dante as he deflected the last dagger with his bow. It struck the ground with a dull thump.

"Come out from there!" The black haired archer shouted towards a tree. Alice saw the leaves rustle and saw a brief glimpse of a masked being. She trembled and she didn't know if it was from the loss of blood or from fear.

Dante clicked his tongue in annoyance and raised his bow again. This time, instead of a golden arrow, he created a shining blue arrow. He held it tightly before releasing it. In a blink of an eye, the arrow disappeared before her eyes.

_Did he miss? Was the mana for the arrow not strong enough?_

As if answering her question, in the mere seconds that followed, hundreds of the same blue arrow began raining down upon the tree. To her, it looked like rain. She heard a grunt amongst the storm of arrows and saw the masked figure fall limply out of the tree.

Alice watched as Dante walked forward and approached the limp figure of the assailant.

He took off mask from the victim's face and threw it down. "Are you one of Krylin's troops?"

The assassin coughed and spat out blood. With a grin he responded, "who else would I be with? I'm guessing you're one of the Aegis?"

"Does it concern you?"

The half dead man spat out blood again. "Do you really think you'll win this war? The Aegis will never stand a chance with Krylin." He chuckled. "You're all weak shit."

"Is that so…?"

Alice cringed when she saw Dante take a stray dagger off the ground and throw it mercilessly down. It struck the man in the throat. Alice sat there in shock as the man spluttered and finally let his whole body go cold. She watched as Dante walked over to her.

"Get up. We have to set up camp now that it's getting late."

"Eh?"

Without even a helping hand, Dante left her there. "Hey! Can't you even help me!" she shouted back. He stopped and looked back at her. "What do you want me to do? Baby you all the time? Get up yourself." Feeling her breath hitch in her throat, Alice could only watch as he walked away from her. Just before he was out of hearing range, he stopped once more. In a low, dangerous voice he told her, "If this is all you're capable of, you should just quit while you can. Because all you are right now is a hindrance."

* * *

"Ow….ow…."

She bit her bottom lip until it bled as she tried to bandage up her wound with a piece from her sleeve.

"Can't you be a little bit quieter?" Dante whispered.

Alice glared at him. She looked down at her make-shift bandage. It was torn and nearly covered with her blood. The edges were frayed with her last ditch attempt to try and make a secure knot. Finally she gave up in a sigh. She looked up at Dante, who was sitting at the other end of their small campsite. A fire separated them and she saw the orange glow give his facial features a strong accent. She didn't realize it that much before, but he was actually attractive.

"D-Dante?" she asked.

"What?"

"Can you please…help me with my bandage? I can't knot it with one hand."

"What's your point?" he asked her coldly.

"Huh?"

"You failed as your job as my martyr. I ended up protecting you when you were supposed to be protecting me."

"B-But…"

"Shut up."

Alice bit down on her bottom lip and hoped that she wouldn't cry. Unfortunately, the first tear came rolling down her cheek. It was soon followed with another as she clenched her fists and stood up.

"How could you! All I'm asking you for is one simple favor! We're partners!"

"On what grounds?"

She was taken aback. She hadn't prepared herself for a proper argument. Instead she weakly mumbled back, "A-Athena said...that...that we're partners." Her voice was starting to crack as the tears came faster and faster. When she looked up at him and saw that he had the same stoic expression that he had before, she trembled softly. "You're horrible! All men are horrible!" she suddenly screamed as she ran away. Alice didn't even think about waiting for him to say something or snap back at her with another heart stabbing insult.

_'I don't care anymore if I'm not pretty or if I'm strong enough…'_

Alice ran until her throat burned and her legs screamed at her to stop. She found herself at the banks of a small stream. The trickling water was sounding rhythmic and almost melodic to her against the silent sounds of the night. She sniffled and sat down, kicking away a rock in the process.

"Dad, I want to go home," she said to no one in particular as she hugged her knees tightly to her chest.

* * *

Dante narrowed his eyes at the fire and threw a stick in. The fire flickered and sparked as it burned up the small stick. "Stupid…why did I have to get paired up with a stupid girl like her?" He leant back against the tree and sighed heavily. The night sky twinkled with stars and the moon was full and bright. The longer he stared, the more he began to ask himself the same question.

_'Why am I so mean to her?'_

He growled silently and stood up. "Damn it." He walked over into the direction where Alice had run off to. All the while, he constantly reassured himself that she would be fine and that all this was, was a small little immature tantrum.

Dante suddenly heard the sound of a small stream and followed it. The trickling sound of the stream grew louder and louder with each step. Finally he found himself at the banks of the stream and there he saw Alice, curled up into a tight ball and fast asleep on the ground. He knelt down and looked at her with disdain. "Hey get up," he told her. Experimentally, he poked her cheek, unsure of what he should do to wake her up.

She mumbled something and went right back to sleep.

He saw her slightly puffy eyelids and knew that she had been crying heavily for a while. Dante let out a sigh. "It's not really my fault, is it?" He awaited an answer, even though he knew he wouldn't get one. "It's your fault. Your fault that I'm caring so much about you."

_'Care…?'_

Scoffing at his own words, he gently scooped her up in his arms. Surprisingly, her body was soft and light, despite the fact that he assumed she was muscular and heavy. Dante looked down at her sleeping expression and subconsciously felt himself loosen up. She had a peaceful expression on her face as she slept soundly in his arms. "Idiot," he muttered as he carried her back quietly.

When he reached their campsite, he set her down against a tree and tended to her wounded arm. It wasn't infected yet, but the crude work she did with the bandage left it vulnerable. He took her old bandage and redid it for her. Tightly and securely, he fastened the tiny knot. For the whole time, she didn't stir or wake up. All Alice did was sleep and silently, Dante watched her. He soon realized what he was doing and he clicked his tongue in annoyance. "What the hell," he whispered to himself. He looked away from her, but soon looked back.

"Good night." He finally whispered, giving her head a little rub before retiring for the night.

* * *

**A/N **_Wow, I wrote so crappy back then. _


	3. Broken Bonds

**A/N **_Rewritten Chapter 3_

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* * *

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**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Assassin_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

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* * *

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**Aegis**

**Chapter 3: Broken Bonds  
**

"Eh?"

"What's the matter?"

"My bandage…" Alice touched the soft, bloodied cloth wrapped around her wounded arm. She faced Dante, looking slightly surprised. "I could've sworn I didn't tie it correctly."

"Hm," Dante responded, sounding as if he couldn't care less about her revelation.

It was early in the morning and they were about ready to leave their small, make-shift campsite. As they continued their journey to Sleepywood from yesterday, Alice walked a few steps behind Dante silently before she shyly brought up a question.

"Dante…?" Alice kicked up the dirt on the road. She waited for him to respond, but when she heard nothing Alice simply went ahead and asked her question despite it. "Did you…help tie my bandage?" she asked hesitantly.

Dante remained silent for a period of time before simply responding in a curt tone. "No."

"Oh…I must've done it without realizing." She laughed a little, feeling a bit embarrassed for asking a question she already knew the answer to.

As they walked on, the road became more untended. The dirt path they were walking on eventually disappeared altogether. "I'm guessing not a lot of people come through here," remarked Alice, trying to avoid the wild vines that had grown over the road.

"They have no reason to. It's the road to the Dungeon and the people of Sleepywood are conservative. They really don't travel outside of their town."

Alice saw a huge gate up ahead with a single man in front of it. He was clad in silver armor from his feet to his head. She thought he was sleeping, but when they arrived he straightened up immediately and spoke in a clear, loud voice to them. "What business do you have?"

The blue haired warrior stood behind Dante and saw him pull his shirt collar down. "Aegis business. Athena herself has sent us to meet someone."

The guard nodded once he leaned in to inspect the tattoo on Dante's collarbone. "Very well," he replied, turning around sharply to unlock the rusty metal lock keeping the iron gates shut. Once he got the old gates opened up, he stepped aside to let the two pass. "Be careful in there. Lots of strong monsters," he warned.

"We will," Alice replied with a smile. She followed Dante through the gates and immediately found the surroundings to change. It suddenly grew very dark and the musty smell of moss and decomposing swamps filled the air. Tall, overbearing trees stood nearly neck to neck with each other, leaving just a skimpy little path through them. Alice grew a bit frightened of the surroundings and thought that it would be dreadful to allow one to get lost in the tall trees, so she made sure that she kept close to Dante.

"Are there any monsters here?" she timidly asked, jumping a bit when a rather large bug flew past her head.

"Not really. Just a few Curse Eyes," Dante replied, never turning around to face her directly. Just as he said that, Alice looked around and saw a few eyes poking out from the darkness of the trees. She assumed they were the Cursed Eyes Dante was talking about. They merely trilled and made little clicking noises as she and Dante passed by.

"Is the magi in Sleepywood?" Alice asked.

"No. He lives on the outskirts of it. He claims there's always Krylin troop movement going on around there."

Alice suddenly paused, unsure if she should ask this. "Dante?"

"What?"

Fiddling with her nimble fingers, Alice mumbled out, "do you…think we have a chance to win?"

"What are you talking about?" he snapped, growing slightly annoyed at the amount of questions she was asking him.

"All I hear everyday is that Krylin is only getting stronger. I just-"

"If you want to leave go ahead. No one's stopping you," Dante said, harshly cutting her off mid-sentence.

"I wasn't saying that." Alice quickly said. "But do you think we're losing? Is all this hopeless?"

Dante stopped walking. Alice looked up at him with her bright blue eyes in curiosity. It was completely silent between them and the only sounds that could be heard were the various insects that flew around them. "Listen to me," Dante began slowly. "Even if we're losing and even if we lose, it's better than going down for a traitor." He clenched his fists. "Traitors should be the ones to die."

"Was someone you know a traitor?" Alice asked, noticing his mounting anger.

The black haired archer let out a soft exhale and muttered softly, "yes."

Before she could ask who, a cry of fear echoed throughout the mass of trees.

"What was that?" Immediately, Alice grabbed her polearm and pulled it out of its hold. When the cry resonated through the dark forest once more, Alice felt all hesitation leave her. "Someone's in danger!" she exclaimed. Before Dante could say anything, she rushed off in search of the source of the scream.

"Alice! Hey! Stop!" he yelled out after her.

She ignored him as the screams persisted. The voice sounded female to her and she willed herself to move faster because of that notion. From behind her, she heard Dante yelling at her to stop. Alice turned around without stopping. "I'm not letting anyone die!" she said to him, not caring if he actually heard her or not. As she continued running, her heavy boots made no sound as she quickly rushed through the forest. Finally she got to the edge of a small cliff and saw the origins of the screams. A young girl with bright orange hair was being attacked by a Jr. Barlog.

_"What is that doing out here?"_ Alice thought to herself as she jumped down from the ledge. She landed on her feet and charged towards the creature.

The girl screamed and shielded herself as the Barlog swung at her with its huge claws. Just as one was aimed right at her, Alice stood in front of it. She blocked the swing with her polearm and heard the metal from her weapon shriek at the impact.

"Get out of here!" Alice shouted to the girl. She appeared to be a magician by the way she was dressed. Without any argument, the girl meekly nodded and fearfully ran away.

Dante watched Alice fight off the Barlog. He jumped down from the cliff. "Alice!"

The warrior ignored him and let out a yell as she swung her polearm at the creature. The Barlog roared and swung one of its arms at her, hitting her squarely in the chest. She gasped from the hit and was flung back into a tree. Weakly, she slid down to the mossy ground. Alice clenched the fist of her injured arm and silently cursed at herself when she saw her hand trembling slightly. Her arm was still badly injured from the throwing star wound she received yesterday. Not willing to let this hold her back, she pulled herself up and charged at the beast again.

"Please! Run away!" The magician shouted at her. "You'll get killed!"

Alice turned her head to look at the orange haired girl. "You didn't run away yet? Didn't I-" She gasped in surprise when she felt the Barlog wrap its huge claws around her body. It felt painful and constricting as the Barlog squeezed at her thin body.

"No!" The girl screamed. "Let her go!" she exclaimed as she raised her jeweled staff. A soft warm light emitted from the jewel and Alice assumed that she was a cleric.

"What are you doing?" Alice yelled. Immediately, she was thrown aside rather roughly by the Barlog. She lay stunned on the ground, unable to move her body. Her breathing was shallow, as she watched the Barlog march over to the young girl. Clerics were nearly helpless against monsters. Alice knew this, so she opened her mouth to tell the girl to run away, but her voice came out only as a hoarse whisper.

Just as the Barlog brought its claw back to slash at the girl, a bright golden arrow pierced through its chest. The creature let out a low growl as it turned around to see who dared attack it. Alice turned her head slightly and saw Dante standing just a few feet away from her, launching arrows from his bow. Each shot met its mark but the huge monster didn't go down yet. It staggered as it swung its claws at him. However, Dante jumped up and did an agile flip over the monster. He shot another arrow and this one hit the monster dead middle on the forehead. The Barlog roared and fell to the ground. The arrows that were embedded in its body, flickered and disappeared just as Dante let out a sigh of relief.

The female cleric rushed up to Alice and asked her if she was okay. Without waiting for an answer, she held her hands out in front of her and a soft green bubble formed in front of them. It sparkled and gleamed as it touched Alice's body. A warming feeling filled her body instantly as the bubble slowly sank into her body. With a last sigh from the girl, it was gone and Alice felt as if all of her wounds had vanished completely. She felt rejuvenated as she sat up slowly, finding it amazing how a cleric's magic could make her feel so much more better. Because of this, Alice complimented in complete amazement, "wow…you're a really good cleric."

The girl giggled. "I don't know if I'm that good."

"Are you okay?" Dante asked the blue haired spearman as he came up to the two girls.

Alice nodded slightly, "I-I am now."

"Don't do that," he simply stated.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know I would get hurt-"

"Don't disobey my orders is what I meant. I'm your platoon leader and you need to listen to whatever I have to say. Got it? That's the whole point of being my martyr."

Alice sat there in shock at the nerve of him. Holding down her anger, she simply gave a curt nod. She knew she shouldn't argue with him in front of someone she just met.

"Excuse me, do you know where the Old Magi is?" Dante asked the girl.

She stood up and tilted her head up slightly to meet his red eyes. "He lives just a few more minutes from here." Suddenly, she widened her dark wine colored eyes and exclaimed, "oh! I'm sorry. How rude of me! I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Minna." She flashed a cute little smile at the end.

"Well then, thank you very much Minna," Dante replied, smiling in such a manner that surprised Alice.

Minna blushed softly and nodded. "I-It's no problem, sir."

"Dante."

"Eh?"

"My name's Dante," he repeated.

"Da-Dante…"

Alice turned away, not knowing why. She silently told herself she wasn't jealous. "We should hurry up and find the Magi shouldn't we?" She was already up on her feet and placing her polearm in the hold on her back. Before Dante could respond, Alice left them both.

"Ah wait!" the cleric suddenly exclaimed.

"What is it?" Alice asked.

"C-Can I join you two? I don't want to leave Sleepywood by myself. I don't know what would happen to me if I met something like that Barlog again and there was no one around to save me."

Before the warrior could respond, Dante answered her. "Of course."

Alice turned around and waited until she heard the girl's light footsteps run towards them.

"Thank you very much," she said in a sweet voice.

"No thank you. I think we'll need a good cleric like you."

_"Stupid...stupid...stupid,"_ she thought to herself over and over again.

"The Magi should be just a few more minutes ahead." Minna said. "I used to work as his apprentice back when times were a bit more peaceful."

"You must've been special for him to pick you to help him."

"I-I wouldn't know about that, Dante."

Alice couldn't help but feel a bit hurt. Dante never asked her about her own past nor did he show any interest. What got her the most was that all he did was act careless to her and with Minna he had chalked up his personality to a debonair flirt. She walked behind them, watching him talk continuously with her. Occasionally there was a giggle from her and she wondered how he could possibly be funny.

She wondered once again if she was ugly. Perhaps her body wasn't appealing. Discreetly, she glanced down at her body and found the warrior armor quite unfitting to her body._ "Then again, I have nothing to show anyways…"_ The blue haired girl looked at Minna and saw how her womanly curves were distinct. Alice felt her heart sink slightly._ "I suppose I had forgotten this, but Dante is still a guy. Of course he'll be nicer to her."_ Realizing what she was thinking, Alice flushed a deep red._ "I don't like that asshole! So why am I…?"_

"There it is!" She exclaimed.

Alice looked up and saw a huge, twisted tree with a door and a small lamp at its base. She wondered how someone could even live in such a secluded area. "Amazing…" She whispered silently.

"I know, right! He's amazing in magic too! I think he's almost as good as Grendel himself!"

The warrior wondered how Minna could have even heard her in the first place.

They all walked up to the huge twisted tree and before they could open the door, an old man opened up the door. He was hunched over and his huge, white eyebrows seemed to overcome his eyes. The Magi reminded Alice was a shaggy dog and because of that, she snickered softly.

"What's so funny?" Dante asked in the usual cold voice he used to her. Despite this, she was unfazed as she continued miserably to hide her laughter. He scoffed softly and followed Minna inside.

"How are you doing?" Minna asked the slouching old man. The Magi chuckled lowly and took her hand in his. "I'm just fine Miss Minna. It's been a while since I've seen you right?"

"Yes. I hope you'll be alright out here by yourself. These people came here to see you to get some information on Krylin.'

"Ah. Don't worry yourself over me. Krylin won't bother to kill a lonely hermit like me." The Magi chuckled again as he turned his attention towards Dante and Alice. "So, do you two need information from me?"

"Yes, we'd like it very much if you could make it quick as well. Athena wanted us back in Henesys by tonight."

"Of course, of course." He stumbled over to a hallway and waved to signal them to follow him.

Alice was surprised to find that a hollowed out tree seemed so small and yet it was bigger than her home in Henesys.

"This place is shrouded by magic. By appearance, it seems small and insignificant while inside I could make it as big as I want." The Magi answered, almost as he was reading her mind. They walked on and finally the old man opened a richly glossed wooden door.

"Wow!" Alice blurted out, completely in awe of the enormous library and collection of books. She stood at the doorway as Dante and Minna followed the hermit into the library.

"I collected many books and scrolls I have retrieved from the great libraries in Ossyria, such a beautiful place that is." He chuckled at the fond memory. Alice quickly caught up to them afterwards.

"Your collection of books seems to have grown considerably!" Minna exclaimed as they continued down the long aisle of ancient books.

"Yes, yes. I suppose Miss Minna. Grendel occasionally sends someone some of his old books and I get some of the books from Ludibrium's great library as well."

"That's amazing!" Alice said in awe, his blue eyes lighting up in wonder as they passed aisle upon aisle. She was even more amazed at how expanse this whole place was.

"Sir," Dante began. "Do you ever feel threatened by the Krylin?"

"Of course not my dear boy!" The hermit chuckled, finally stopping at what looked like hundreds of slots each filled to the brim with scrolls. "They hardly ever bother me at all." He lifted a wrinkled hand and pulled out a scroll from a slot above his head.

"But sir, living near such troop movement as Athena told me…shouldn't you live with the people of Sleepywood instead of on the outskirts? You never know they could-."

"My dear boy, I'm not at all weak." He gave a throaty chuckle. "I may be old, but I know when it's time for me to fight or fly."

Unable to retort anymore, Dante lowered his head and muttered an apology.

"Ah! Here we go!" The magi suddenly exclaimed, startling Alice slightly. He held a soft, milky white scroll. It had a rough, tweed rope wrapped around it. Carefully, he handed it to Dante. "Take this to Athena. It contains all of my recorded writings ever since the Great War started."

"Thank you very much." The black haired archer said with respect.

They walked out of the huge library and then out of the house. Once again, Alice was in awe at how small the hut was from the outside.

"Please sir, if you are ever in need of any assistance." Dante said as they all stood outside of the hut.

"Yes, yes. I will do well to tell Athena to send someone down here to fetch me. Thank you for your concern, dear boy."

They waved goodbye and was soon on their way out of the Dungeon.

"Wow, he's so brave to be living in such a dangerous place." Alice commented to no one in particular.

"He is considered one of the greatest wizards though." Minna replied with a smile. "I think he will be fine by himself."

"Oh…"

Alice sighed gratefully once they saw the gates leading out of the dark Dungeon. Once they passed through it, the bright sun shined brilliantly, causing her to squint until her eyes got used to the sudden brightness.

"Alice?" Minna asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever get tired lugging that polearm around everywhere?"

"Huh?" Alice widened her sapphire blue eyes, taken aback by the sudden question. "Y-You get used to it I suppose," she modestly responded.

"It must be so great, being strong and all!"

"Eh?"

"Oh uhm, nothing!" The cleric laughed.

When they reached Henesys' huge gates, the gatekeepers immediately let them through. Alice assumed it was because of Athena's orders.

"I'll take the scroll to Athena myself," Dante stated once they got inside the town.

"Eh? What about me?" Alice asked.

"You'll just get in the way. Besides, whatever's in this scroll is probably classified information…information that someone like you can't be exposed to."

As Dante walked away, Alice ran up to him. "We're partners! Athena assigned this mission for both of us!" When he simply ignored her, Alice clenched her fists tightly in frustration. "Hey! Look at me when I'm talking to you!" She huffed angrily and ran in front of him. He narrowed his red eyes at her. "Get out of the way. Athena wants this as soon as possible."

"Only after you agree that we're turning this in together! Just because you're an Aegis platoon leader doesn't mean you could order me around with no respect!"

The black haired archer passed her without any acknowledgement. "Stay out of my way."

"No!" Alice grabbed his arm in a desperate attempt for him to stop. He glared at her and in a blink of an eye, he shoved her down roughly. The people walking nearby stopped and stared at them.

"Alice!" Minna cried out, running up to the girl. She knelt down as the warrior cringed at the sudden pain. "Dante! How could you!"

He ignored the cleric and glared at Alice. "You're disgustingly annoying…Alice."

Those words stabbed at her chest. No one has ever talked to her that harshly. She sat there in shock as the townspeople went back to their daily routines.

"I-I'm sorry Alice. Are you hurt anywhere?" Minna asked as she helped her up.

"N-No."

"You should go back home and take your polearm off your shoulders. Your fall might have hurt more because it was weighing you down."

"Yeah maybe…" Alice paused. Finally she clenched her fists tightly until her blunt nails dug into her palms. "I…I have to get to the council building. I need to speak with Athena about something."

"Eh?" Before Minna could ask Alice why, the warrior took off running. "Alice! Wait!"

_Mean…_

The gravel and dirt crunched underneath her shoes with each step she took.

_So mean…_

She felt her first tears escape from her eye.

"_You're disgustingly annoying."_

_I just wanted to help him. Isn't it right for both of us to do everything Athena tells us to? Regardless of whether or not he's a full-fledged Aegis member and I'm not._

Alice finally stopped when her tears were streaming down her cheeks endlessly and when her breaths were coming out in uneven gulps and gasps.

_I'm sorry Ada…even though you said I could overcome this…I can't. _

_

* * *

_

"Leaving?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Why?"

Alice nervously shuffled her feet and bowed her head. Athena looked at her and saw that she had been crying. The elf closed her eyes and sighed. "Never mind. The decision to quit is your own." She smiled gently.

"I'm sorry." Alice whispered.

"Don't be. The Aegis isn't for everyone."

"I-I…I don't mind the fighting. But…" The blue haired warrior reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a gleaming silver pin with the Aegis flame symbol etched onto it. "I suppose I'm not cut out for this." She dropped it into Athena's outstretched hand.

"It's a waste you know."

"Eh?"

"We need brave fighters like you."

"I'm sorry, ma'am."

Athena simply nodded. "It's fine. I don't want you to feel burdened by this decision." Alice smiled solemnly back in returned and turned to leave. As she did, the great wooden doors opened and Dante walked in. She widened her blue eyes when she met his eyes. Quietly, she lowered her head and brushed past him.

"Why was she in here?" Dante asked, stepping up to the long wooden table.

Athena sighed softly as she pulled back her chair and sat down. "The scroll, Mr. Kyudo?"

The black haired man set the scroll down upon the table. "Miss Athena…why…?"

"She quit," the elf said quickly.

"…What?"

"She said she didn't want to stay in the Aegis anymore. Such a shame." She clicked her tongue softly as she gently tugged off the tweed rope wrapped around the scroll. "We needed brave warriors like her…" Athena unrolled the paper. "Did something go wrong on this mission that would make her want to quit?"

Dante paused. He avoided Athena's piercing eyes briefly before meeting them again. "No…ma'am. I can't think of anything that would make her want to quit the Aegis."

"…I see." The elf placed the silver pin Alice had handed back to her, on the table. Dante stared at it, his expression unreadable. "It seems as though there is no real progression or activity in the Dungeon as we have suspected."

"Then where could Krylin be?"

Athena propped her elbow up on the armrest of her chair and rested her head on her fist. "Who knows Dante…who knows…?"


	4. Understanding

**A/N **_Thank you very much for all the reviews! At the end of this chapter, there will be a small segment where I will answer some questions and concerns that were brought up. _

**Chapter 4: Understanding  
**

"Alice! Hey! Alice!" Ada yelled as she knocked on the door. "Jeez…"

"What's the matter?"

"She's not answering the door and neither is her little brother. Hey Alice!" Ada yelled again, banging her fist onto the hardwood door.

"Maybe we should leave her alone."

The black haired assassin turned around to meet the green eyes of her partner. "I know something happened between her and Dante. Tell me Cedric, why else would she quit the Aegis?"

"Maybe because she wanted to take care of her womanly duties at home."

"What…?" Ada asked, slight irritation climbing in her voice.

"A-Ah! N-Nothing!" Cedric said with a light, nervous laugh. He sighed and blew a piece of his green hair away from his face. "We should get going on our quest. It's best if we end it today."

Dejectedly, Ada took one last look at her friend's house and nodded. "Fine then."

------------------

"Alice…? Are you still sick?" Her little brother asked, peeking his head into the room. All he saw was the top of her disheveled blue hair. "Please get better soon."

When Alice heard the door click, she opened her eyes. It's been two days since she had turned in her resignation to Athena and now she deeply regretted it. Burying her face into her pillow, she closed her eyes tightly.

_I don't want to hear Dante ever again. How could anyone be so cold?_

She flipped over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling with the blankets up to her nose.

_He's an idiot…stupid, stupid idiot. A selfish bastard that only cares about himself. _

Giggling at her silent insults at him, she turned onto her side. "That's right, he's nothing to me! Trying to act all superior as if he's important…" Her moment of happiness and triumph quickly faded into regret.

_I shouldn't have told Athena that I resign. There's no way she'd take back a quitter. All because of him!_

Growling, she ruffled her blue hair and sat up. "Damn it!" Her hair fuzzed as she sat there. Quietly she buried her face in her hands. "Why does that idiot make me think about him so much?"

------------------

"Let's see…where is it…?"

Minna walked on the gravel road silently as she looked around. She had been given instructions by Athena to stay with Alice for the time being. Since clerics have been in a shortage, the council decided she could be Dante's new martyr.

"I wonder why Alice quit…" She silently muttered, holding a basket full of sweetly baked muffins. She glanced down at it and took in the red plaid design of the cloth draped over the pastries. With a slight playful giggle, Minna smiled. "Maybe these will cheer Alice up! Mm, if only I could find her house. These mushroom houses look all too similar to me."

She walked on more until the mushroom houses came to an end.

"Eh!? Wa-Wait, it can't be!" She cried out, looking at the piece of paper Athena gave her. It included directions to Alice's house. Flustered by this predicament, Minna fumbled with the paper and placed it into her dress' pocket. She looked around and finally realized she was in a bad district of Henesys. There were bars, old buildings that were falling apart, and drunks stumbling around.

She looked at the sun and saw it was starting to set.

"Hey, Miss! Come over here for a second!"

Minna froze and turned around. She saw a few scraggly men walk up to her, chuckling and laughing as they looked her up and down. One of them leaned in close to her face. "What's a little pretty thing like you doing in this district?" He reeked of alcohol.

"I-I need to get home!" She trembled when she saw a few more drunk men gather around her.

"Don't worry, we don't wanna hurt 'ya. Just do as we say." He grabbed her wrist.

"No!" She cried out. Roughly she was slammed into the nearest wall and pinned on. "Let me go! Please!"

The group of men laughed as they all moved in closer.

"Hey! What are you doing!?"

They all turned around. Minna tried to get a look of who it was, but the crowd blocked her line of vision.

"Oi, get out of here. We're just trying to have a good time." One of them said. "Yeah get out of here kid." Another one said. Minna screamed when they closed in on her again.

"I'll place you all under arrest for assault if you touch her again."

The orange haired girl widened her eyes at her realization. "Dante!? Dante!" She cried out.

"God you're annoying!" One of the men walked up to him and wound back his arm to punch the black haired archer. Before he could make impact, Dante grabbed his fist and held it tightly in his hand. The man grimaced and glanced down at Dante's collarbone. He saw a fire insignia tattooed on the skin.

"You-You're part of the Aegis?"

Right when he finished the sentence, Dante threw down his fist and hit him hard in the stomach. The man cringed in pain as he slowly sank to the ground. The other men, scared at how swiftly their comrade had fallen, fled the scene. Dante stepped over the cringing man's body and went up to Minna. "Are you okay?"

"…Uh…Uhm y-yes!" She responded. "Th-Thank you for saving me!" Her cheeks were flush with a rosy, lively color.

"What were you even doing out here by yourself?" He asked.

"I got lost."

"Going where?"

"Alice's house. Athena told me to stay with Alice until they make me your new partner!"

"New partner?" He asked, bewildered. Silently, he muttered to himself, "So she really did resign…"

"Eh? What was that?"

"Nothing." He paused. "I'll take you to her house. I don't want you to wander the streets alone at night."

"Okay!" Minna agreed happily. As they walked down the dark streets, only lit with the candlelight street lamps, Minna asked Dante. "Why do you think Alice quit the Aegis?"

"Hm."

She looked up at the black haired archer. His face showed no expression at all as they continued walking. "U-Uhm…she was a good partner though, wasn't she?" Minna continued.

"I guess." He muttered.

"She seemed to want to help the Aegis."

"Hm." Dante answered again briefly.

Minna finally stopped and clutched the basket full of muffins tightly. Dante turned around to face her. "Minna? What's the matter?"

"Dante should go apologize."

"Huh? For what?"

The cleric raised her head and met Dante's fierce red eyes. "You hurt her feelings! You should apologize for that!"

"That…" He thought back and remembered what he had done and told her. Thinking about it again, he found it to be rather harsh of him. Finally a sudden realization struck him. "She quit because of me…"

"Eh?"

"N-Nothing." Dante brushed off. "Let's just hurry up back to her house."

* * *

"Alice? It's me, Minna. Athena told me to stay with you until she could set up a place for myself." They waited for a while. "She must be sleeping." Minna laughed nervously as she knocked again. Suddenly, the door opened up and revealed a young boy.

"Are you friends of my sister?" The small boy asked.

"Eh? Are you Alice's brother?"

The small boy nodded. "She went out a while ago. She didn't tell me when she was coming back though."

"Ah…" Minna turned back to Dante. "Should we go look for her?"

"No. You stay here. I'll go look for her. She couldn't have gone far when it's this dark."

Even though it seemed easy enough, it was a daunting task. Dante didn't have the slightest idea of where the warrior could be at this time of night. He aimlessly walked the quiet streets for what seemed like hours. "This is like trying to find a needle in a haystack…" He sighed softly. When he decided to head back to the house, the strong feel of mana came sweeping over his body like a chilly wind. Quickly he ran off into the direction of where he felt the presence of mana. It was definitely strong and unwavering.

Dante quietly released his bow from its hold on his back and readied a golden arrow onto it. He ran past the Eastern gates and panted as he looked around. Dense trees were everywhere. The pulsing aura led him deep into the foliage of trees. Thinking it was an intruder he hid behind a tree, readying his arrow. He heard trees groaning as something hit them harshly. Dante gripped his bow tightly and finally came out.

"Don't move!" He shouted, lifting his bow up to his eye level. He instantly lowered it when he saw who it was. "Alice? What are you doing out here?"

The blue haired girl blinked in surprise. She was clutching her blue polearm tightly. "D-Dante?" Instantly, she turned her back towards him. "Why did you come out here?"

"I felt someone's mana and followed it out here." He paused. "You didn't feel it?"

"I did. I thought it was you though." The way Alice answered him briefly signaled to him that she didn't want to speak with him. Although the presence of such strong mana was suspicious, Dante thought no more of it. Instead, he concentrated at the task at hand.

"Why did you quit the Aegis?"

Alice remained silent. She simply turned her head away from his gaze slightly and held her weapon tightly. The black haired archer sighed and walked up to her. "Come on. You should go back home."

"Who said?"

Realizing how stubborn she was, Dante grabbed her arm. "Your brother looked worried about you."

"He's fine on his own!" She snapped out, taking her arm back.

"What the hell's the matter with you!?" He shouted.

"Me!?" Alice whipped around to face him. "What's the matter with you!? Ever since we've been assigned together all you've done was insult me and yell at me and…" Her voice trailed off and soon turned into a sniffle. "I hate you…I hate you…" She cried.

Dante looked down at her, unsure of how to respond. He wasn't quite sure of why he acted like he did with her. "You're such a child. Quit crying." But Alice did nothing but that. She brought her hands up to her eyes and wiped them with the back of her hand just like a little child would.

"This is why I hate having a partner. Especially a whiny brat like you."

That was it. Alice felt herself falling over the edge in anger. Suddenly, she swung her polearm at him. He barely dodged it.

"What are you doing!?" He yelled, narrowly dodging another swing. "Stop!"

"Make me!" Alice shouted as she swung at him again and again. She hit the bark of the trees but, that didn't seem to faze her swings. "You're the worst partner ever!"

Dante turned around to face another swing. He barely blocked it with his bow. The metal of the two weapons shrieked as they slid against one another with such high friction. He nearly collapsed at the force of the impact. Despite her body being lithe and the framework of her body looking fragile, she had the strength of a Barlog.

_'Just great...' _Dante thought morbidly.

He quickly got out from underneath the pressure of Alice's weapon and slid a few feet away from it. Her polearm crashed into the ground with a thundering boom. Before she could recover from the impact, Dante threw away his bow and dashed towards her. He stepped firmly onto her polearm, still embedded deep into the ground. When he felt her attempt to pull it out, he replaced his feet with his hands and gave her a sweeping kick. She was thrown back into a tree and in no time did he have his hand around her neck.

"Sorry I kicked you." He quickly aplogized.

"How can I forgive you for something like that!?" She grabbed his arm tightly. "Let go of me!"

"If I did you'd kill me."

"That's the point." She continued to struggle. At this, Dante tightened his grip around her neck. She coughed weakly. "Let…go!"

He let go of his hold around her thin neck and watched as she slumped to the ground, coughing.

"You're my martyr. Basically you're my servant. You obey every command I give you. Even if I tell you to kill yourself, you have to follow that." Dante told her coldly.

Alice held her neck and looked up at him. "Like I'd ever follow such a ridiculous order like that." She gave out another weak cough. A moment of silence passed them before Dante spoke.

"Tell me…why did you quit the Aegis?"

"I was never in it to begin with." She coughed. "I'm only a mere martyr, remember?"

"You served under my command, therefore you're still with the Aegis." He knelt down. "Athena wanted you back desperately."

"Well she could go find herself another warrior. There's plenty of them running around somewhere, I'm sure."

"She wanted you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I heard all of it from her when I resigned. It doesn't make any difference when it's coming out of your mouth." She stood up and dusted herself off. "I'm not going back."

"Why?" He asked her quickly. "You're being stubborn. If Athena says we need you, we need you. Would you rather risk the lives of those people we can't protect?"

Alice grabbed her polearm and slipped it back into its guard on her back. "You said it yourself. You're strong. You don't need someone like me."

He stopped. It was true on what he had told her now that he remembered it. "I didn't mean it like that." He blurted out.

The blue haired warrior stopped in her tracks. "…What? How else could you have meant it then?" When she didn't hear another word or sound from him she scoffed and started to walk away.

"I want you back…in the Aegis." He said quietly. A wind stirred and rustled the trees. Alice stood there silently. "Athena said the same thing. If she's that desperate to get me that she's starting to use you as a messenger, then fine. I'll go back."

Dante quickly grabbed her arm. "I want you back as my…partner." She turned around and stared at him with a surprised look. "Eh…?" They stood like that for a while before he quickly let go, realizing what he was doing.

"St-Stupid girl! What are you saying, "eh?" for? Let's just get you back home." He stomped off ahead of her.

"Wa….Wait Dante!"

"What?" The archer turned slightly, not quite facing her.

"….Thank….you."

He lowered his eyes in response and continued to walk. Alice smiled and followed closely behind him.

_I think I understand why Dante acts like he does._

"Hey! Hurry up. Do you want to get attacked by any night lurkers?"

"Sorry." She ran up to his side.

_He doesn't want to show his true feelings to some people. It takes time for someone like me to gain trust from him._

"Do you want to stay here for the night?" Alice asked when they reached the doorstep to her house.

"Huh?"

"You could stay here for tonight. I don't mind." She smiled.

"Is it because I finally said you are my partner that you're showing me kindness?" He asked hostilely.

"No! Of course not!" She shot back. In a gentler voice, she answered. "I just assumed…you didn't want to go home just yet."

_Maybe if I get to know him better…he'll be nicer to me…_

"I don't have a home."

"Huh?"

"I live in the units that Athena provides for the Aegis."

"But, what about your family?" She watched him as he grew silent and turned away. "Sorry, I think I'll turn in for the night. I wouldn't want to burden you."

Alice didn't bother to stop him as he walked away. Once he disappeared from sight, she sighed and tilted her head back to face the starry night. "I tried." Was all she said before entering her home.

--------------

"You want to rejoin the Aegis?" Athena asked incredulously. "Why the sudden change in decision?"

Alice looked away and stared for a while at the stained glass window depicting a beautiful goddess. She turned back to Athena and spoke, "I lost my way I guess. It won't happen again."

The elf smiled and pulled out the silver pin from her sleeve. "I'm sure you'll do well, Alice." She dropped the pin onto the warrior's outstretched hand. Athena gave a slight nod and walked past. As she did so, she placed a hand on Alice's shoulder and whispered. "You and Dante will get along just fine."

Alice stood there silently as Athena left the huge council room. The wooden oak doors clicked as they shut. The blue haired warrior stared down at the silver pin in her hand. It caught a beam of sunlight and shined brilliantly. She held the pin tightly in her hand as she fastened it onto the collar of her inner tunic.

"Get along huh?" She whispered softly. A smile played upon her face as she turned to leave the room.

_I will take Athena's word for it._

----------------

**A/N **_I'm not particularly fond of this chapter, but I figured I needed to add the dialogue and "talking" parts in eventually. Again, reviews make this desparate writer happy._

the-walls-have-ears:_ I got another review earlier saying that I needed to have less one line sentences, so I just haphazardly mashed up all my dialogue into paragraphs. The way I write however, is in one line dialogue sentences so from now on, there won't be anymore "mash ups." Thank you for your review and glad you enjoy the story_

Duncan: _Thank you very much! Your review made me smile. I will try my best to upload and edit all my chapters quickly as possible in order for you and others to read. And yes, I do try to have a variety of the jobs in MS portrayed in this story. In the later chapters, which I have already started to write, there will be more jobs including a gunslinger and a crusader; just for a little teaser. Thank you for your review, once again!_


	5. Orbis Tower

**A/N **_Thank you for the reviews once again. _

**Chapter 5: Orbis Tower  
**

"You got another quest?"

"Yeah, it's more intelligence gathering about Krylin's army."

Cedric gave out a loud groan. "You're so lucky! Athena gives you all these exciting quests and all she gives me are monster population control quests. She must favor you." He pouted, blowing away a piece of his green hair away from his face.

Dante sighed. "She doesn't favor me. It's just because I'm a higher ranking Aegis than you."

"Oh shut it." The green haired bandit mumbled. He turned himself and lay down upon the edge of the fountain. The crystal clear water splashed and trickled into the pool. The park wasn't the best place they could talk about these things, but Dante preferred this over somewhere secretive or quiet.

Children ran around, giggling and laughing in front of them. Dante spoke, keeping his eyes on them. "Cedric?"

"What?"

"You knew me a long time right?"

"Yeah. We knew each other for nearly 14 years, why?"

"…My parents…"

The green haired boy propped himself up. "This again?" He stopped when he saw Dante's befallen expression. "…Your parents. I'm sorry but, my parents won't tell me what Athena told them. They keep it a secret from me as if they're forbidden to tell anyone." He sat up again. "You know I would tell you all that I know about them, Dante."

"I know…"

"You'll find the answer soon. I'm sure of it." Cedric smiled.

"But…I want to know now. I want to know why they left me. Even though I was 5 years old, I can't remember." He said in a harsh breath.

"They couldn't have left you on purpose."

Dante let out an amused chuckle after a moment of silence. "You know…I always suspected they left me to join Krylin."

"Don't say stuff like that. They're your parents, there's no way they could do something like that."

"I don't think my parents were as loving as yours are Cedric."

"Still…"

The archer stood up and adjusted the leather strap that ran diagonally down his chest. The bow made a soft sound as he did so. "I have to leave now. I'll be back in a week."

"A week? That long?"

"Athena assigned me and Alice to go to Ossyria. She wants us to investigate a possible base encampment for Krylin's army."

"I'll walk with you until you meet up with Alice."

They walked out of the peaceful atmosphere of the park.

"Are you sure that Alice could handle going to Ossyria on such a dangerous mission?"

"Athena has a lot of confidence in her." Dante replied.

"Do you have confidence in her?" Cedric asked. He received no response. They walked on until they were at the West gate where Alice had agreed to meet Dante. He saw the blue haired warrior standing at the gates languidly, with an expression on her face that looked as if she was daydreaming.

"Hey, don't stand around with such a careless expression on your face!" Dante yelled at her. Alice instantly snapped out of her daze and turned her head to face them. "Well I couldn't help it! My stupid leader is late and what else am I supposed to do in the mean time!?"

"You're the one that's early! I came here on time!"

Cedric laughed at their little tirade. "I'll leave you now Dante. Take care Alice!" He waved at her, giving her a flirty wink before leaving. Alice turned her head away to hide a soft blush. Dante noticed this. "What are you being so embarrassed over? He does that to any girls he thinks is pretty."

"Eh? He thinks I'm pretty?" Alice asked, her face lighting up. Realizing what he had said, Dante shook his head and sighed. "Never mind, let's get going."

"We're walking all the way to Ellinea for the ship!?"

"Idiot. Only you would think we would walk there. We're taking this." The black haired archer pulled out a small scroll from his inner coat pocket. He unrolled it and Alice saw a picture of Ellinea with its wheel symbol exquisitely designed onto it.

"A scroll? How will that help us get to Ellinea faster?"

"You really are an idiot." Dante said with a heavy sigh. He let it go and with amazement, Alice saw it float up in front of them. So caught up in astonishment, she jumped when she felt Dante's hand grab her wrist. "What are you doing?"

"Relax." He said. "I'm showing you how it works." Her hand touched the bright scroll and instantly she felt the cool breezes of Ellinea. Dante touched the area next to her hand.

"Transport."

A cooling sensation washed over Alice's body. She let out a gasp as soon as it ended. In a blink of an eye, she found herself standing upon the leafy canopies of lush trees. She looked around and saw no sign of Dante.

"Dante!?" She called out. "Where are you!?" A few magicians passed by her, giving her odd looks. She ignored them and continued to call out Dante's name. "Don't tell me you left for the ship without me!" With a disgruntled sigh, she made her way up the huge trees, climbing rope ladders and crossing loose rope bridges. After a few minutes, she saw the entrance to the station. It was dark beyond the large archways and she hesitated in front of it.

_Do I go on without him? _

"Hey! You're planning to leave without me, weren't you?"

Alice turned around and saw Dante come up to her. She huffed. "Like I would!"

"Oh? You finally got it through that thick skull of yours that you're useless without me?" He smirked, pushing a finger against her forehead.

Alice glared at him. "Maybe I should leave without you!" She ran into the darkness beyond the archways and found herself instantly at a skyline harbor. There, she stood in awe and didn't even notice Dante had already come up and pass her.

"Are you going to daydream the whole day? Come on!"

"S-Sorry." Alice didn't bother to come up with a snippy comeback as she followed him. They weaved in and around the huge crowd of people waiting to get on the ship. When they got to the near edge of the dock, there was a woman in flamboyant cowboy attire.

"Hey! No cutting!" The people behind them shouted. Alice tried to ignore their shouts and focus entirely on the conversation they were about to have with the woman in a cowboy hat.

"Sir, I'm afraid you'll have to go to the back, we don't tolerate-."

"We're a part of the Aegis. Athena assigned us to get to Ossyria quickly."

"Oh I see! Well then, I will get you on the next ship as quick as possible."

On cue, the blaring horns of a ship sounded. Alice looked out at the sea of clouds and saw the huge, airborne ship coming towards them. Once it got close enough to the dock, a plank onboard was lowered and functioned as a ramp up to the ship. The woman in the cowboy hat shouted to try and keep order of the people boarding the ship.

"Please keep a single file line!"

Both Dante and Alice walked in front of the line and up the ramp. When they got onboard, Alice looked up at the huge masts the ship had. "Does this ship go fast?"

"It depends if the wind's good or not." Dante carelessly said. "Get inside the cabin."

"Huh why? I want to stay out here."

"Just do as I say."

"…Fine." Alice grumbled. She followed the mass of people into the cabin.

It smelled musty and unclean inside the cabin, but she figured they never had the time to actually give it a proper wash because of the constant going and coming of people. She found a seat near the exit of the cabin on some stacks of bagged items.

"Hi!"

"Eh?" Startled by the sudden loud voice, she jumped. Next to her was a black haired man. He had aqua colored eyes and nice pale skin. He had on a charming smile and by the looks of his armor and the weapon on his back, she knew he was a warrior.

"H-Hi." She said in a quiet voice.

"What's your name?" He asked. Before she could answer, the voice of a woman came into the cabin. "Please remain inside the cabin for safety purposes. We are not responsible for lost items during the flight. Thank you." Instantly after she finished, the ship rumbled and started off.

"Safety?" She asked.

"Yeah. Sometimes on these trips there are monsters that are looking to raid people of their money and equipment. It's troublesome. Some people die because of it."

"R-Really?"

"It's fine if we stay in the cabin though." He said with a light laugh. "So, will I need to guess your name or are you going to tell me yourself?"

"So-Sorry." She said, blushing. "My name's Alice."

"A pretty name for a pretty girl."

Alice looked down in modesty. "I-I don't think I am…"

"Don't be so shy!" He said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "My name's Xin. Pleased to meet you. So Alice, why are you going to Ossyria?"

"Eh? I'm…I'm going there because of Aegis business."

"What!? You're in the Aegis? That's amazing!"

"I'm not actually in it, but…I help them." She giggled nervously, afraid that he'll take back his words of compliment.

"That's still amazing." He flashed her a warm smile. Alice smiled back. Just then, the boat rocked and some of the people cried out in surprise. "Does it rock this much usually?" She asked.

"No, not this much." Xin replied, having the expression of surprise himself. He let go of her and stood up. "I'll go out and see what's happening."

"Huh?" Alice looked around and finally stood up. "Wait, where's Dante?"

The ship rocked violently again. The younger people squealed in terror as they clung onto the nearest object.

"I'm going to see what's happening." Xin opened up the door to the cabin and instantly Alice felt the rush of the wind hit her head on.

"I'm coming too!"

"It's too dangerous!"

Without another word, she pushed past him and got outside. Instantly, a huge dark orb came crashing down just a few feet away from her. She shielded herself form the remnants of the blast.

"Idiot! What are you doing out here!?"

Alice looked up and saw Dante up on one of the wooden frames of the masts. "I'm here to help you!"

"Shut up! Get back inside!" He yelled back.

She looked behind her and ducked quickly when a huge Barlog came swooping in. Quickly she pulled out her polearm from its hold and carefully made her way up to him.

"Alice!" Xin shouted out after her. He drew his black sword from the guard and shut the door to the cabin behind him. Quickly, he attempted to follow up after her.

Despite the weight of her weapon, Alice climbed up the mast frames with ease and saw soon just a few feet beneath Dante. "Is this where you were the whole time!?"

The black haired archer raised his bow and shot three golden arrows at the Barlog. Each struck the wings, but the huge beast didn't seem fazed at all by the attack. Dante swiftly dodged as it swooped in for him. It barely grazed him.

The huge monster came back in for Alice this time. She readied herself and gave out a loud cry as she stabbed the thing dead in the center of its chest. For a split second, she thought she had done away with the beast, but the shock of falling was soon met. The force of the monster was too strong as it had merely pushed her off of the thin mast frame.

She felt weightless as she freely fell to the deck. Her hands were outstretched in a pathetic attempt to grab onto something. Before she could meet the impact of the hard deck floors, Alice felt the almost gentle embrace of another set of arms. She closed her eyes tightly and slowly opened them afterwards.

"Are you alright?"

She found herself looking into Xin's clear teal eyes. "I-I'm fine." He let her down onto her feet and they both looked up at the Barlog, now circling Dante dangerously. "I have to go help him!" Alice cried out.

"Stop." Xin told her. "You'd only be getting in his way."

"What?"

"You're only making him worry about you."

Alice clenched her fists tightly around her polearm and finally she let down her guard. "I suppose I'm useless to him right now."

"That's not what I meant." Xin replied hastily.

"No." She gave him a smile. "I guess I run into useless battles too much and I only end up causing him grief." Before Alice could say anything else, a loud shrieking cry alerted them back to the current situation. Her eyes widened when she saw how close the Barlog was to Dante. In fact, she couldn't even see him due to the Barlog's huge body covering him.

"Dante!" She yelled. The Barlog's huge wings flapped and eventually it froze. At that time, Alice saw the Barlog slowly falling to the deck. Before it hit the wooden floor, it disintegrated into a pile of ashes. All that was left was it's armor and various items it carried from it's many ship raids. Dante jumped down from the raftings and landed on his feet next to the ashes. His left arm and most of his bow was covered in blood. It dripped steadily from the sharp tips of his bow down to the deck.

Alice rushed up to him, concerned. Immediately he replied, "It's not my blood." He looked at the pathetic pile of ashes. "I stabbed it with my bow." He raised his clean hand up to his mouth and wiped the access blood splatter that was on his chin. The ship came to a sudden stop, startling Alice. She looked and saw that the grand ship was docked in a port.

"We're already here?"

Dante started to leave without saying another word.

"Hey wait!" Alice called out after him.

"I'm going to get cleaned off." He said to her without turning around to meet her. The blue haired warrior gave Xin a glance.

"Go on. You're going to lose him."

"I-It was nice meeting you." She stuttered out, giving him a slight bow.

"The pleasure was all mine."

Alice ran after Dante. She followed him at his heels. The cabin door opened and all the passengers flooded out. As they passed by Alice and Dante, they exchanged worried looks and whispered about the huge amount of blood on the archer's arm.

"What do you think happened?"

"I heard a Barlog came on board."

"My god…is that his own blood?"

"E-Excuse me?" A girl in a green jester hat with her small wand in her gloved hand stopped in front of them. Alice nearly bumped into Dante from following him so closely. She peered around him and saw the girl, along with a female thief, who Alice assumed to be her friend.

"I-I can heal your arm for you if you want. I'm not that good, but…"

"He's not injured." Alice said, stepping in. "That's not his blood." Before the girls could ask any more questions, the warrior grabbed Dante's wrist and let him away.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"We don't have time to answer all of their silly questions!" They managed to get away from the huge crowd of passengers. "Don't they realize we're in a hurry!?"

"Alice…"

"Really, the nerve of them stopping us when we are trying to get you cleaned up."

"Alice!"

"What?"

She turned around and faced him.

"You've been going the wrong way."

----------------

"You're such an idiot."

"Shut up." Alice snapped out. She was washing his clothes in a stream they had found on the outskirts of the city. The water was blessed by the fairies of Orbis. Even when she was washing Dante's blood soaked clothes, the blood simply disappeared into the water. "So pretty…" She whispered, looking into the sparkling water in a daze.

"Hey! Are you done washing my clothes!?" Dante yelled at her. "Stop daydreaming!"

"I'm not!" Alice shouted back. She hurriedly gave his shirt a few more rinses before wringing it out. "Don't you know patience is a virtue?" She snapped at him, giving him his shirt back.

He scoffed and placed the white shirt on a nearby rock to allow it to dry. "Don't you know it's rude to talk back to your commanding officer?" Dante mocked, pushing her forehead again with a finger. She slapped his hand away. "Stop that!"

Alice washed out his outer coat as well and let that to dry beside the shirt. They waited there, mostly in silence. Occasionally, a few people would have passed by, exchanging odd glances amongst themselves.

"Dante?"

"What?"

"Where did you get that mark?"

"Where?"

"That one." Alice pointed directly above his chest, at his collarbone.

"Stop nosing around in things that don't concern you."

"That concerns me though!"

The black haired archer let out a slight chuckle. "Nothing on my body concerns you."

Alice blushed slightly and turned away. "Stupid…I was only curious." Finally, after a long moment of silence, Dante told her. "The Aegis gave me this mark. They use it to keep track of their highest ranked warriors." He touched the black flame tattoo.

"Are you saying this to feel superior towards me?" The blue haired girl asked in a smug voice.

"Idiot! Why would I want to feel superior over you? I already am!" Dante shouted back.

"So you are! Just to tell you, I'm very capable of becoming stronger than you'll ever be!"

"Ha! Dream on!"

"Stupid!"

"Idiot!"

"Asshole!"

"Pancake!"

At the word, Alice was just about to hit Dante with a punch. However, she was stopped by the light voice of a little girl.

"Why are you two fighting?"

The warrior relaxed and saw that it was a small fairy girl. She was probably no more than 3 feet tall and her wings seemed so fragile that they'd break if you simply touched them. She looked up at either of them, her eyes full of concern.

"A-Ah…it was nothing." Alice laughed nervously as she rubbed the back of her head. She gave a sheepish grin and avoided Dante's confused gaze. She knelt down to be at eye level with the small fairy girl. "What's your name?"

"Bella." The fairy gave a cute curtsy. She smiled, but the smile faded quickly. "Why were you two fighting though?"

Both of them were silent. Even Dante didn't know how to answer that honestly. It was Alice who finally spoke up. "Eh, well we just got into a little, silly disagreement. It was nothing to be concerned about." When she smiled, the fairy smiled back. "Okay then!"

Alice let out a sigh of relief and asked the young fairy. "What are you doing out here Bella?"

"Oh! I was told to meet a group of Aegis warriors that are to arrive here today. I just assumed it was you two."

"You guessed right." The blue haired girl replied. "Who are we supposed to meet?"

"No one." The fairy simply replied.

"No one?" Dante asked, slipping on his partially dried white shirt. "Then how are we supposed to receive information?"

"We have a tower here in Orbis and everything we fairies know is written on each block of the tower."

"Is it…a big tower?" Alice asked, apprehensive of the possible task they were to be burdened with.

"It's very big! Each stone of the tower has scriptures or our history etched on there. It's very beautiful! It was crafted by our ancestors!" Bella exclaimed, excited wholly while both Dante and Alice were none too joyous about the upcoming, daunting task.

Finally, Dante sighed and slipped on his outer coat. "We'd better get going then. Information about Krylin is written on one of the stones, yes?"

"Of course! It should be near the bottom of the tower since that is where our most recent histories are archived."

"Okay. Thank you!" Alice smiled. She left the fairy and went to catch up to Dante, who had already begun to walk towards the tower. Once the warrior had caught up, she asked. "Do you think the fairies of Orbis really did etch everything onto the stones of Orbis tower?"

"That's what she said, wasn't it? Fairies aren't known to tell lies or play tricks on humans."

------------------

"This is taking too long!"

"Quit complaining! It's hard enough without you whining."

Alice sat down upon the stone steps. She set her torch down beside her. "I wonder what happens when the tower runs out of stones for them to write their history on." Her voice seemed to echo through the dark tower.

"Orbis will be gone by then."

"Eh? What are you talking about?"

The black haired archer sighed as he touched the tiny scriptures on the walls. "There's a legend that says the spirits of Orbis built this tower as a measure for how long Orbis will stay afloat in the sky. Once the history is written upon every single stone in this tower, that's when it's predicted the city will fall to Earth."

"Do the fairies know this?"

"Of course they do. They know it'll happen someday."

"They'll lose their homes though."

Dante shrugged as he leant in close to a stone to make out the writing. "What does that matter? They could make a living somewhere else easy. There's plenty of places in Ellinea anyways."

"How can you say that?"

"What?"

"What if this place holds a lot of memories for them? What do you do about that?"

Dante turned towards her and narrowed his eyes. "I'm not going to get into another pointless argument with you over something trivial as this. Come on, we need to find the scripture." He stopped when Alice stood in front of him, unmoving. "Get out of the way." He said warningly.

"Make me." The warrior said, in a dangerous tone that rivaled Dante's. He sighed angrily. "Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"

"That's because you aren't!"

"Excuse me?"

"This is their home! How could you brush it off so lightly!? They care about this place."

"What's the point of caring? It's going to get destroyed anyways. No matter what you do, everything will be gone!" His voice was rising in volume from his increased annoyance at her persistence to argue with him.

"But-."

He suddenly grabbed her shoulders. "Stop trying to change reality!"

Surprised at the sudden outburst, Alice stood silently as she watched Dante catch his breath. He looked at her with glaring eyes which finally relaxed and their gaze drifted away gradually. Eventually, he took his hands off of her and picked up his discarded torch which burned weakly.

"Dante…" She said softly.

"Let's go. We're behind schedule."

Alice nodded even though his back was turned towards her already. She picked up her own torch and followed behind him.

------------------

"_How interesting…" _

She let out a soft, evil chuckle. She swept her hand over the cloud of black smoke and smirked at the scene that appeared before her. Her purple eyes glinted at the sight of Dante's frustrated and befallen expression. _"Such an interesting child…aren't you? Dante…" _Her tongue flicked out to give her red lips a lick.

------------------

**A/N **_If some of you are wondering how Dante stabbed a barlog with a bow, just as a note, he's using a Dark Arund. He presumably stabbed the barlog with the sharp tips near where the user holds the bow. If you don't know how an Arund looks like, search it up on hidden-street._


	6. El Nath

**A/N **_Here's another chapter for anyone who is even reading this pitiful story. I know as a writer, my story should inform all of you of each character and their details and stuff, but below is a basic list of the current characters and their jobs. I'll be updating this list from time to time as the current characters change their jobs or there are new characters added. (Or deleted, but let's not get into that.)_

-------------------

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Assassin_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

_-------------------  
_

**Chapter 6: El Nath  
**

It hurt to walk or even move. Hugging herself tightly, Alice trembled at the bitter winds that brutally hit her head on.

Both she and Dante found the scripture that contained information about Krylin and her troops within the tower. Since they were already so far down, the archer suggested that they rest for a while in the nearby town of El Nath and find someone with an Orbis Tower transport scroll. Unfortunately, neither of them knew that the region was going through the worst snowstorms ever recorded.

Alice felt her legs give way and she knelt on the ground, trembling harshly. Her thin tunic, even with her light armor wasn't enough to keep her warm. She heard the snow crunch in front of her.

"Get up. We're almost there."

"Th-That's what y-y-you said an hour ago." She stuttered.

"I promise, it's just over that hill and we'll be at the town." When he didn't hear any response, he sighed and grabbed her arm. Alice was too tired and weak to retort when he jerked her up and held her tightly. She felt him open up his coat and wrap one side of it around her. The blue haired warrior clutched onto him meekly, knowing now wasn't the time to uphold her selfish pride.

The brutal wind beat against them over and over. Alice held on tightly to the coat and onto Dante. She felt his warmth and felt her trembling cease just slightly.

"We're almost there. Just hang on."

Alice nodded weakly.

* * *

_Huh?_

Alice blinked her eyes open. All she saw was a wooden ceiling and it took her a while to realize she was in a room. She sat up, panicking, wondering where she was. All her outer armor was taken off and all that was left was the soft, lightweight tunic she wore underneath. There were various furs piled on top of her to function as a primeval blanket.

She thought back, hoping to remember how she got here.

"Already up?"

The blue haired warrior looked over to the door and saw Dante stepping in, bringing in a large basin full of hot water. He walked over to the side of the bed and set it down. "Do you feel better?"

"A little…" Alice muttered, still trying to figure out how she got here. "Did I pass out?"

"Almost."

"What…?"

"We got to El Nath, got into an inn, and you just started walking by yourself into the room and you fell asleep on the bed right away." He sighed.

"That's what happened?"

"Of course that's what happened. I've never seen someone so prone to the cold."

"Hey!" Alice trailed off and suddenly jumped out of bed. "Oh no! Where's my polearm!?"

Immediately, Dante snickered.

"This isn't funny!"

"You're such an idiot." He chuckled.

"Shut up! Where is it? You know, don't you!?"

"You left back in Orbis with Bella. Remember? You said you didn't want to lug it around inside the tower."

The blue haired warrior blushed, embarrassed by her sudden outburst. She quietly went back to the bed and sat down. Dante chuckled again. "You really did forget, didn't you?"

"Sh-Shut up." Alice muttered. "You could forget those things when you're out there freezing."

"Of course." Dante replied, sarcastically. He motioned to her. "Give me your hands."

"Why?"

"Just give them to me and come down here."

He rolled up the sleeves to her tunic and held her hands tightly as he submerged them in the now, warm water. She let out a soft sigh in response. "…It feels nice. There's even hot water here?"

"Of course there is."

"Well sorry for asking." She mumbled.

"There's natural hot springs in the back of this inn. It never freezes over since it's so hot."

"Wow…"

Alice kept her hands submerged in the water and finally lifted them out. It felt wonderful as she dried them off on a towel. "When are we going to go back to Orbis?" She asked him. Dante stood up and walked over to the window. It had frosted over and he had to wipe off some steam from the panes in order to see outside. "The snowstorm didn't clear up yet and the innkeeper said the storm might last for a few more weeks."

"A few more weeks!? How are we going to get the information back to Athena before then?"

"We'll have to manage, I suppose. I'm sure this snowstorm will lighten up soon. That's when we leave. Even if it'll only clear up for a few hours…"

"How will we get back up the tower again?" She grimaced slightly at the thought of scaling the huge tower with its many floors.

"I told you. We will need to buy an Orbis Tower scroll. It's the only way up the tower without wasting valuable time." He walked over to the small fireplace where there was a roaring fire. Kneeling down, he used one of the steel stakes hanging on the wall nearby to poke at the wood. "I'm sure the snowstorm will weaken by tomorrow. We'll go out to the marketplace and ask nearby if there are any Orbis Tower scrolls."

Alice nodded. She stood there silently, watching Dante tend to the fire. He turned around when he felt her staring at him. "What?"

The blue haired warrior shook her head quickly and jumped back into the warmth of the bed. She pulled a pelt over her body and snuggled into the pillow. A soft smile played across her face. If they went back a few weeks, Dante would've snapped back an insult at her, but lately she has heard less and less insults until finally it was put off as being playful or just being nice. "Aren't you going to sleep Dante?" She asked, not lifting her head off the pillow.

"I'm not tired."

"How did you sleep before?"

"I didn't."

"Eh!?" Alice sat up abruptly. "You should! It's cold and if you don't get your strength up you'll faint like I did!" At this, Dante simply chuckled. "I'm not as weak as you."

"I'm not weak!" She yelled back.

He sighed and stood up from the fireplace. Quietly, he walked over to the other side of the bed and pulled off his shoes. She scooted over slightly so that he could fit on the rather small bed. Once he pulled a warm pelt over his body, he muttered. "I know you aren't."

"H-Huh? What do you mean…?" Alice asked. She awaited a response. When she didn't get one for a long time, she sat up quickly and glared when she saw him fast asleep already. "Damn it! Don't fall asleep when someone's expecting an answer from you!" She shouted.

As Dante continued to sleep soundly, she relaxed her shoulders slightly. Her face relaxed as well as she brought out one of her hands and reached out to touch the archer's hair. Surprisingly, the midnight black hair was silky soft, in contrast to her thoughts of it being rough and unruly. She smiled a little and rubbed it just so that it wouldn't get messy. "Sleep tight then."

--------------

"This feels so nice!" Alice exclaimed as she stretched. She looked out to the white snow capped peaks of the distant mountains and smiled. They almost resembled scenes from old paintings.

"Don't get too caught up in the view. Luckily for us, the snowstorm ended sooner than predicted. The markets and shops should be open by now so it shouldn't take that long to find us a good Orbis Tower scroll."

Dante walked down the snow covered streets with Alice following closely next to him. "Have you been here before Dante?" She asked him.

"Not recently, but Athena has assigned me quests to finish here a while back."

"Were they hard?"

"Not really. It were just quests within the Dead Mines."

Before Alice could ask anymore questions, they had arrived at the small marketplace in El Nath. It was at the heart of the town and the only place where there was a decent amount of people walking around. From every angle, the warrior heard offers and sales on rare, usually expensive items. Her hands itched to reach into her pockets to pull out a few mesos to buy some of the items. But as if reading her exact thoughts, Dante told her, "Don't buy from any of these people. Most of them are swindlers and target people that look like first time buyers."

The blue haired girl pouted softly and continued to follow Dante through the weaving crowds. They finally stopped and she peered around to where the archer was looking at. There she saw a stall, not too small and not too overbearing. There were various scrolls and parchments hung on the wall behind the seller as well as a colorful assortment of potions tightly corked into their pretty little vials. The seller seemed like a fragile old woman with a wandering, yellowed eye. She smiled kindly as they walked up to her.

"Do you two need something?" The old woman asked in her croaky voice. "I have some love potions if you are in need of something like that." She immediately pointed to a small, heart-shaped vial with some sparkly pink liquid inside. Alice blushed softly and quickly looked away. She caught a glance of Dante's face and she thought she saw the slightest signs of shock and embarrassment.

"We need an Orbis Tower scroll." Dante answered, clearing his throat. The old woman nodded and reached underneath her counter. In a few seconds, she produced a wrinkled, old scroll from underneath and gave it him. He, in turn, gave her small bag full of mesos. "Thank you young man." She croaked once more.

"Thank you very much!" Alice said, bowing politely.

"Young girl, come here." The woman suddenly said.

"Eh? But I have to catch up with h-."

"You love him don't you…?" She smiled.

"N-No! Of course not! I hate him truth be told! I'm just walking around with him because he's my partner!" She hoped the old woman would believe her lie. Alice blushed redder when the old woman laughed softly. "That doesn't seem to be the case my dear. In fact, I could tell he loves you as well. He just doesn't show it."

"E-Eh?"

"Hey Alice! What are you doing over there!?" Dante shouted.

"Hold on a second!" Alice yelled back. "Be more patient you ass!" She turned away just as the black haired man huffed angrily.

Quickly, Alice spoke to the old woman. "I'm really sorry, I have to leave now."

"Wait, take this." The old woman gave her a small blue vial. It swirled softly inside the vial, decorated with a soft purple haze inside.

"What is it?" She asked.

"It's stronger than a love potion. It'll make him yours, forever."

"I-I can't…"

"You must!" The old woman urged. "Do you want him leave you for another woman?"

"Dante would never-."

"A man's heart is fickle dear child. Just take it. No need to pay me."

The blue haired warrior bit her lip and finally decided to take it. She quickly thanked the woman and ran back to an impatient Dante. "What were you doing back there?"

"Sorry, I was browsing." Alice laughed.

"Idiot."

"I said sorry! Ow!" She cried out as Dante lightly hit her upon the head. "Don't you know not to hit a girl!" Alice bitterly looked up at him. "You just thought in your head that I'm not a girl, didn't you?" She whispered under her breath.

"Of course not. Don't fill your head with such silly notions."

"It's not silly!"

-------------

The old woman watched the quarreling two leave the marketplace. She stepped out of her stall and in a blink of an eye, it disappeared. Hunched over, she took crippling walks. Gradually, her appearance changed underneath the dark black hood. Her face turned younger until the skin was taut, her hair turned from a sickly gray to a beautiful light purple, and her body transformed until it took the place of a young woman.

"Silly little girl." She chuckled evilly as she lifted her head, revealing her sharp dark purple eyes. With a quick lick of her lips, she whispered, "Dear little Dante will soon be under my control…and you won't even realize it until it's too late."

The wind blew harshly across the barren snow covered landscape. With the wind, she disappeared from sight, not able to be seen within miles of the snow banks.

--------------

**A/N **_Sorry for the short chapter. I figure it would be a good place to leave off of. Anyways, review you damn lazy people. This writer spirals into depression when there are no reviews. -cut, cut-_


	7. Ambush

**A/N **_I decided to upload another chapter. (Whoop dee flippin' do) Anyways, this writer get overly dramatic sometimes, so don't really believe this writer is going emo/cutting itself/spiraling into depression. I'll still update this story regardless of whether or not people review it. _

**Chapter 7: Ambush  
**

-------------------

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Assassin_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

_-------------------_

_Is it really true…?_

Alice held the vial that contained the blue black potion inside. The old woman that had given it to her, said that she saw she desired something. The blue haired warrior clenched the tiny vial in her hand and continued to lay there on one of the small cots laid out inside the cabin ride back to Ellinea.

_She said…I desire….love from…_

The warrior blushed and covered her face with the pillow. Despite the fact that the pillow smelled musky, she couldn't bear letting anyone see her face in the current state.

_I don't like Dante. I don't. _

She continuously repeated inside her head. Her whole body seemed to fall into an uncontrollable tremble as she held the pillow tightly.

"Are you still cold?"

Alice ceased her trembling and kept the pillow on top of her face. She knew it was Dante questioning her, but she refused to answer. "Hey, are you okay? You've been acting weird since we got back from El Nath." The archer asked. When he received, yet again, no response, he forcibly took the pillow off her face. He saw her face was a lovely shade of bright red. At this, he snickered.

"Wh-Why are you laughing?" The blue haired warrior mumbled.

"You look hilarious right now." Dante laughed.

"Shut up…" Alice mumbled again, feeling the energy drain out of her. Too many thoughts were swimming through her head for her to even think straight. She saw the immediate concern Dante had, but she further pushed him away by turning her back to him.

"It was a joke…don't take it so seriously."

"I know it was a joke."

"Then why-."

"I don't feel that good." She finally managed to whisper out. "I just want to be left alone."

She expected a snappy remark, but instead she received a soft pet on the head. "Get better then." Dante replied before leaving the cabin. She waited until the door shut and she sighed. Luckily, there was no one else on the ship, but Alice also considered it unlucky since she felt trapped with only him there. She opened up her clenched fist and looked at the vial of blue liquid again. Her hands trembled as she put it back into her pocket.

_Do I really desire him…?...Do I?_

_-------------_

"Ada! Hang on, slow down." Cedric begged. However, Ada refused. Instead of complying to his whims, she marched on forward towards the council building.

"We need to get there right now if we want to at least get some credit!"

"I'm tired after the last quest!"

"And you call yourself a platoon leader!?" Ada yelled at him, ignoring the odd stares she got from the people passing by. "You're a disgrace! I do all the work on the quests and all you do is laze around!" She got even angrier when he didn't seem to be listening to her.

"You two seem to be getting along well."

The two thieves turned and saw Alice. Ada rushed up to her friend, ignoring Cedric's whines. "Wow! You look really nice!" She exclaimed, looking over Alice.

"Th-Thanks." Alice replied with a smile. She was in a blue sun dress that Minna had bought for her while she was gone. It felt awkward on her body since she was so used to wearing pants and heavy armor.

"Alice you look very nice!" Cedric commented, looking at her from top to bottom. "Want to go out sometime or…Ow!" He cried out as Ada grabbed his ear. "You lecherous rat! Don't hit on Alice that freely!" The black haired girl pulled him away. "I'm sorry Alice, I'll be back from the council building in a bit okay?"

"Okay, that's fine." Alice smiled back. Inside, she felt pride swell up inside of her at the thought of a guy commenting on her appearance. She walked through the marketplace with a smile that couldn't be erased as she ran her errands.

Experimentally, she let her hair down from the usual clipped up hairstyle it was in. The waist length hair cascaded down her shoulders and caught the sun's rays beautifully.

_I finally feel like an actual girl…wearing something this girly for once._

Alice joyfully carried out her errands and in turn, her once empty basket filled to the brim with sweet treats, meats, fruits, vegetables, as well as a bottle of fresh milk for her little brother. She arrived at her house and opened the door, expecting Minna to be cooking up their dinner. "I'm h-." Immediately, she stopped when she saw Dante sitting on one of the wooden chairs near the kitchen. "What are you doing here!?" She yelled in surprise.

"Oh Alice! You're back?" Minna asked. She cheerfully went over to her and retrieved the basket full of food. "Dante just decided to stop by!" The cleric smiled.

'_That randomly!?' _Alice thought bitterly. She avoided his eyes and mumbled, "Where's Sean?"

"Oh, he went out to play with some of his friends. He told me he'll be back before it gets dark." Minna answered. Suddenly, she gasped and rushed over to Alice. Grabbing her hands, Minna exclaimed. "You look so pretty like this! I knew this dress would suit you! Dante, doesn't she look pretty?" The orange haired girl stepped aside slightly so that he could see.

Alice avoided his eyes felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up on end. She didn't know why it was nerve wracking, awaiting his comment.

"It looks nice." Dante commented with a smile.

"See Alice!?" Minna exclaimed once again. She giggled and placed her hands on the other girl's shoulder. "Go upstairs and get ready for dinner, okay? Dante, would you like to stay for dinner?"

"If it's not too much trouble." He replied.

"Of course not!"

"Alice, you can't cook or anything?" Dante asked, noting the cooking pots looked almost brand new.

"Shut up…" Alice muttered, hiding the blush of embarrassment on her face. In the past, her cooking experiences were terrible, riddled with burnt dinners and openly expressed distaste from her brother. The blue haired girl walked up the stairs and narrowed her eyes when she heard the wooden chair scraping against the hardwood floors. She knew Dante was following her. "What do you want?" He didn't answer her until they got to her room. After the door was closed behind them, he asked her. "Are you still sick?"

"No."

"…Is something bothering you?"

Alice sighed tiredly. "Why are you suddenly taking so much interest in me?"

"Because…you're my partner."

She scoffed. "Took you long enough to figure it out." Slowly, she began to fold the clothes that lay strewn on top of her bed. "If that's all you wanted to know, can you leave?"

"Something did happen in El Nath, didn't it?"

Unfortunately, Alice flinched at the question. Dante saw this and got closer to her. "It's true isn't it? That old woman…she gave you something right?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play stupid! You got something from her. That's why you took so long just to catch up to me."

"I was just looking!" She replied. Her hands trembled as she took hold of her black tunic. "I never received…anything from her." Just as she said this, the vial of blue liquid that she had hidden away inside her tunic, fell to the floor. It made a soft sound, comparable to the sound of chimes. It rolled right down to the base of Dante's picked it up and whispered, "Never received anything…huh?"

Alice whipped around and reached for it as he held the vial high above his head. "Give it back!" She cried out.

"That old woman looked suspicious! Why did you even buy this from her!?"

"I didn't! She gave it to me!"

"And why is that?"

"Because she told me I could get whatever I desired with that!" The blue haired girl froze at the realization of what she had just said. She trembled. Dante widened his red eyes slightly. "Desire…?" He brought the vial down and stared at the liquid swirling within. "Why would you ever need something like that…?" He waited for an answer, but all he got was silence. Quickly, he grabbed her by the shoulders. "Hey Alic-."

Dante stopped when he saw the girl's eyes filled with tears. Alice hit his hands away and got out from in between the bed and him. "Just take it. You'll need it more than I do!" She ran out of the room and left Dante standing there alone.

The archer looked down at the palm of his hand, with the potion vial in the middle. He shook it experimentally and saw a black cloud form briefly before disappearing. "Jeez, that idiot…Alice!" Dante ran out of her room and down the stairs. "Where did Alice go?" He asked Minna, who was stirring the soup around. "Eh? Alice? She ran outside and seemed upset about something. Did…anything happen between you two?"

"No, it's nothing." He ran for the front door and left the house.

"Hmph, yeah right its nothing." Minna said.

--------------

The sun was setting behind the smooth, rolling mountains. Alice languidly sat upon an old swing at a playground. It squeaked as she gently swung, just so that her feet were always touching the soft sand beneath.

"Alice?"

The blue haired girl looked towards the entrance of the playground only to see Ada standing there. "Ada? What are you doing here?" Smiling, the assassin walked over to the swing next to Alice's and sat down. "I was just on my way back home when I saw you here." Ada glanced at Alice and cleared her throat. "Is something on your mind?"

"Huh?"

"You're unhappy with something."

"N-No I'm not." Alice muttered, kicking the sand.

"Come on Alice, we've been friends since forever. I know everything about you."

"That's a little creepy isn't it?" The warrior laughed lightly.

Ada smiled and cleared her bangs from her face, only to have them fall over her right eye again. "Is it another problem to do with Dante? Is that bastard still mean to you?"

"No…not as much as before."

"Then what else could be troubling you?"

Alice felt the heat rise up to her face again. "Ada? Have you ever fallen in love?"

The thief, taken back by this question, tilted her head slightly in thought. "I don't recall…"

"That's not true! Remember that one time you liked the boy that lived next door to you?"

"Well if you knew, why did you ask?"

"So it was!" Alice exclaimed. Once their excitement died down, the blue haired girl spoke again in a quieter tone. "Do you know h-how it felt?"

"I'm not sure."

"Eh? Wh-."

"Because I never fell in love with him. I just liked him I guess." Ada admitted.

"I see."

The only sound that could be heard was the squeaking of the swings. A light wind was brought up, rustling the leaves on nearby trees. Alice kept her head down until she saw a hand reach out to her. She looked up and saw Ada. "Come on, it's late." Silently, Alice sat there still. Ada gave a soft sigh. "You'll know when you love someone dearly."

"Really?"

"Really. You'll know it automatically and you won't debate about it inside your head."

Being guilty of the action Ada just described to her, Alice blushed and took the other girl's helping hand.

"There you are!" Someone shouted.

Both of them faced the playground's entrance and saw Dante. Alice locked gazes with him, but remembered Ada's words.

_You'll know when you love someone dearly…_

"Do you know how long I've been running around town looking for you? Don't you know it's dangerous to be walking the streets alone-?"

"Dante…" Alice had walked over to his side as he was yelling at her. In a soft voice, she whispered. "Let's go back home." She looked up at him, smiled, and grasped the sleeve of his black coat.

The black haired man narrowed his eyes at her and raised an eyebrow. "You've been acting weird these past few days. He-Hey! Are you listening to me?" He asked when she didn't respond or look at him at all. Instead she just continued to smile peacefully as they walked away from the playground.

Ada watched them leave until they disappeared from sight. She stood there and finally smiled. As she got ready to leave herself, she heard Cedric's voice from the nearest rooftop.

"They look cute together, don't they?"

The black haired girl shot an annoyed glance at Cedric, who had jumped down from the building and landed smoothly on the sand. "Are you following me home or something?"

"You heard what Dante said, it's dangerous to be walking the streets alone." The green haired bandit smiled playfully. He lent out his hand to her. "I'll walk you home."

A smile Ada bared soon turned into an annoyed grin. "You damned pervert! Are you trying to act like Prince Charming!?" She hit him on the back of his head. Cedric cried out and held his head. "You're so cruel Ada." He whimpered.

"So be it!" She yelled as she walked away.

"Ah wait for me!"

"Quit following me!"

---------------

It was quiet all around the rooms. The apartment complex given to the Aegis platoon leaders were nothing far from shabby huts. They weren't quite luxurious, but they weren't too run down that it looked like a commoner's house.

Dante lied down upon the bed and silently looked up at the ceiling. Sleep did not come easily to him as it did on many other nights. He rolled onto his side, hoping that the position would lull him to sleep faster. As he did so, something poked at his leg. In discomfort, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the potion vial Alice had given to him. Curiously, he stared at the swirling blue and black liquid. At first glance it seemed harmful, but the more he looked at it, the more it seemed mystical.

"My wishes? My desires?" He whispered to himself. Finally with a light scoff, he placed the vial on the nightstand. He planned to return it back to Alice tomorrow. "It's nothing useful to me…" Dante muttered carelessly.

Just as he closed his eyes and was lulled off to sleep, a creeping shadow made its way from the door to Dante's bedside. The shadow materialized into a human shape.

"Beautiful child…" An alluring voice cooed. A hand reached out and gently outlined the curve of Dante's jaw. Long, purple nails dragged across his skin lightly. Even so, the archer continued to sleep heavily through this. Purple painted lips turned into an evil smile. Her hand grabbed the vial off the nightstand. She popped the cork and drank it. Holding the liquid in her mouth, she gently gave Dante's shoulder a tap.

He let out a soft sigh and his breathing stopped. She leant down and turned his head towards her. In a matter of seconds, she had her lips over his. Slipping the potion into his mouth, she made sure he drank it down. She got back up and smiled. In an almost caring way, she pet his hair and gently tapped his shoulder once more. He let out a sigh again and his breathing resumed.

"Sleep well Dante. Enjoy it. You'll be mine soon enough."

With a dark chuckle, the woman swept her hand in a circular arch and in a blink of an eye she disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

------------

"Dante!"

Alice pounded on the door to his room. She stood out there for another minute and knocked again. "Are you up yet!? Athena gave us another quest!" The blue haired girl banged his fists against the door again, only to have it open up. She lost her balance and tripped forward right into Dante. They both fell to the floor with a loud thud.

"Why are you being so noisy this early in the morning?" The archer groaned, holding his head. He roughly tossed her off of him and brushed himself off. "Hey! Show some consideration!" Alice yelled, still on the floor. She helped herself up. "Why are you so late!?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm the one that has to knock on your door for once."

"Good job then." Dante sighed as he secured the leather strap that held his bow on his back. He walked past her and out of the room. Alice followed him, closing the door behind her.

"Are you even listening to me!?"

"Of course I am."

"You're being awfully laid back today…" She mumbled.

"Aren't I always?"

Alice huffed and turned away.

They both walked out of the housing complex and onto the streets. The sun shone dimly as it was still sunrise. Merchants were setting up their shops and opening them up, getting ready for the day's earnings.

"So, what is our quest?" Dante asked.

"Oh, we are to go to Kerning City and find out information about a cell within the town that may have connections to Krylin."

"I see."

Alice waited and waited as they walked on and on. Finally she asked, "Don't you have a scroll to the town like you did with Ellinea?"

"Nope."

The warrior looked at him with an annoyed glare. "So we have to walk there, huh?"

"Seems like it." He simply replied. Alice let out an exasperated groan and trudged on behind him.

_Oh, I almost forgot…I gave Dante that potion yesterday…_

She stared at him and wondered if he drank it or if he just decided to give it back to her any time soon. Bringing up the courage to ask such a sensitive question, Alice took a deep breath. "D-Dante? Do you…still have the potion I gave you yesterday?"

"Potion?"

"Yeah, the one I gave you yesterday."

"What are you talking about?"

"Eh!? I gave you a potion!"

"I don't know anything about a potion. And why in the first place would I accept something from someone like you?" He smugly asked. Alice fumed and stomped her foot down. "You're so irritating sometimes!"

Dante simply chuckled and walked on, ignoring the girl's nagging remarks and insults. When they finally got to the crossroads of Henesys, Lith Harbor, and Kerning City, he stopped and turned around. "I really don't remember anything about a potion. Maybe I just forgot."

"You don't just forget about those things you know." She muttered. "So then…you don't remember me yelling at you?"

"I remember that."

"Then you don't remember when I gave you the potion?"

The archer shook his head. "It must have been your imagination."

"Shut up…" Alice mumbled. She hated how Dante looked and spoke to her as if she were deranged. "It's your fault you can't remember that crap."

"What did you say?" He asked.

"N-Nothing."

--------------

As they got closer and closer to Kerning City, the forests became less dense and they started to find some signs of civilization once more.

"The walk here wasn't that bad." Alice commented, giving a light sigh. She thought to herself that the scenery wasn't all that bad either. The rolling hills accompanied by the gentle breezes spoke paradise to her. It was those types of sceneries that made her forget sometimes that there was a bloody, violent war going on at the same time.

"We're almost there, we just have to pass that clearing up ahead and we should see the gates to Kerning." Suddenly, Dante stopped and raised an arm to stop Alice. Experience from being on many quests with him, Alice took it as a sign that there was danger nearby. She quietly unhooked her polearm from its leather hold on her back and held it tightly. "What's the matter?" She whispered as Dante unhooked his bow from its hold.

"Someone's out there."

Alice scanned the trees and the nearby scene quickly. She didn't see or hear any signs of life other than insects buzzing around or the distant caws of a raven. Suddenly, she heard something whizzing by her ears and hitting the tree beside her. Holding her breath and on her guard, Alice turned and saw a girl, clad in pink silk dress. In her hair were two pink flowers, each on either side of her head.

"Aw darn it! I missed you!" She giggled. Swiftly she jumped down and landed quietly on the soft grass. Once again, she drew another sharp knife. "I promise you, I won't miss this time." She threw her array of knives straight at Alice and the warrior had no choice but to break away from Dante and jump to the side. The girl giggled once more and ran towards Alice. The blue haired girl widened her eyes in amazement. The girl had disappeared right before her.

"Alice!" Dante called out to her.

"Focus on your own opponent." A cool voice said. Dante whipped around and saw a blond haired man with dark green eyes standing before him. The man had on clothes that suited a pirate captain. On the tip of his rugged hat was the imprint of a jolly roger. He pulled out a gun from inside his coat and raised it. In a blur, Dante disappeared, assuming the man would have fired his gun. When he reappeared in the shadows of a tree, he looked down to where he once was and saw that the man too, was gone.

_A feint?..._

"Too slow."

The archer turned around just as the man fired his gun. It set off a loud bang. Dante fell to the ground, his arm shot. Luckily, he landed on the ground with his feet. Blood dripped steadily from his wound down to the leafy forest floor. He silently cursed at himself for being so vulnerable that the shot was a nice, clean hit. The man followed him down and stood before him once more.

_What the hell…? Why can't I detect his mana at all?_

Raising his gun once more, the pirate aimed. "Are you confused?" He asked. "Tell me. Are you really an Aegis platoon leader?"

Dante simply narrowed his eyes into a glare. His arm had now begun to tremble at the loss of blood. Quickly, he raised his bow and produced a golden arrow. In the blink of an eye, he had disappeared in a blur. Within the next second, he reappeared behind the man and shot his arrow.

"You are so predictable…"

The archer widened his eyes when he felt the cold hard barrel of the gun pressed against the back of his neck.

_He's too fast…_

"Unfortunately…I can't kill you." The pirate admitted, keeping his gun pressed hard against Dante's neck.

"And why's that?" Dante scoffed. "You might as well kill me while you have the chance."

"The orders from my master were not to kill you."

"Weird orders don't you think?"

"Hm."

Dante didn't dare break a sweat when he didn't feel the gun lift off his skin. He stood there until he heard a cry of pain. He identified it as Alice's.

"Alice!" He yelled. Ignoring the fact that the pirate's gun was directly behind him, he ran off towards her. The blond man simply lowered his weapon.

"Foolish…"

--------------

"Had enough?" The girl in pink giggled. She pulled out a knife and twirled it.

Alice panted and grit her teeth. Her polearm seemed to grow heavier with each passing second. "I'm just getting started." In a fierce yell, Alice charged forth with her polearm raised. The blue crescent moon shaped weapon was swung around mercilessly and much to the warrior's dismay, the girl simply dodged all of her attacks.

The girl flipped gracefully backwards and jumped to the nearest tree. "No wonder we're winning the war! You Aegis are getting weaker and weaker with each year!" She let out a laugh of amusement.

"Shut up!"

"Is your name Alice?" She asked randomly.

"What…?"

"That's what Dante called you."

"H-…How do you know his name!?"

"Oh my…hostile aren't we?" The girl smirked. "Our master knows. She knows everything about you two."

The warrior clenched her polearm tightly. "Aren't you going to come down here and fight!?"

"Fighting's so messy and dirty!" She whined. "We only came here to test you two. By the looks of it, Dante will be my master's newest pet real soon!"

"Pet? Your master? Who is she!?" Alice yelled.

"It's not of your concern!" The girl giggled. "Hm, it seems we've overstayed our time with you. See you later!" She waved. In a blur, she had disappeared once more.

Alice relaxed and dropped her guard. She continued to stare up at the tree where the girl had once stood.

"Alice! Alice! Are you okay?" Dante asked.

"I'm okay."

"No you're not." He pointed out the gash she had on her forehead.

"O-Oh this." She laughed nervously. "It's nothing. It'll just need to get bandaged up later with we get to Kerning." Suddenly, she stopped and asked. "Do you know what they wanted?"

"I don't know…the attack was so unexpected and they seemed to be knowing what they were doing." Dante held his head. "No matter. We need to get to town quickly to get your head bandaged up."

"Okay." Alice complied. As they walked out towards the last clearing and into the city, Alice couldn't help but feel that that wouldn't be their last encounter with those two.

* * *

"I see…then did everything go as planned?"

"Yes master."

"Master?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you so interested in such a man like Dante Kyudo? He was weak when I had fought with him-." He was quickly interrupted by Krylin.

"Do you really believe he was going for his all when he fought you Ivan? I'm interested not only for his powers, but for his vulnerability." She chuckled darkly. "Losing both of his parents is…such a tragic event for such a young boy, don't you think so too Si Hua?"

The girl with the pink flowers in her hair smiled and bowed. "Yes master. Such traumatic events only make for a weak mind."

"So, Ivan…do you understand now?"

"Completely master." The pirate bowed respectfully and raised his head. Krylin smiled, her blood red lips curling upwards.

"I think I'll go pay a little visit to our Dante. The potion should be taking effect by now and sadly, he can't do anything about it." She chuckled. Quietly grabbing her staff that was leaning against the edge of her seating throne, Krylin swept her hands gracefully in front of her and a swirling black cloud slowly consumed her until she was completely gone.

Both Ivan and Si Hua stood there until she had disappeared.

"Hey Ivan, is Dante really as weak as you said he is?" She asked as the blond pirate walked out of the throne room and into the massive hallways of the underground compound.

"It seemed as though he was holding back, I suppose." Ivan simply answered, ignoring the bubbly assassin that was walking around him. He brushed away his bangs away from the black cloth eyepatch that covered his right eye. "Krylin told us to guide Dante back into our plan if he goes astray, remember? And that means, you don't kill that meddling girl that follows him."

"Alice." Si Hua answered. "Her name's Alice."

"Whatever." He replied, stopping. "You were trying to kill her."

"No I wasn't!" The assassin retorted. "I was only playing with her!"

Ivan let out a disgruntled sigh. "I know you could've killed her if you wanted to, but what I'm saying is, don't. We must stick to the plan."

"Of course!" She exclaimed. "But I really get annoyed by those Aegis members." Si Hua mumbled. "They think they could stop us…"

"They won't. What Krylin has planned for them is far greater than what they could possibly imagine."

Si Hua giggled. "They're all going to die right?"

"Every last one…"

----------------


	8. First Encounter

**A/N **_I figure I should clarify this before anyone grows bold enough to ask, because it may seem a little fuzzy. Krylin is a girl, woman, female, etc. She has a "job", but it's not a job in game and I "tweaked" one of the jobs a little to suit her role in the story. The reason why she's not on the character list is because I prefer her to be a rather secluded character for the time being. Mind you all, this is just a brief overview of her character. The other major details will be provided as the story goes on. (And as a little sidenote, Krylin is old. Lawls.)_

**Chapter 8: First Encounter  
**

-------------------

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Assassin_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

_-------------------_

"I don't like it here."

"Why?"

Alice glared at the group of young teenage boys who were smoking out on the streets. "It's so different from the settings of Henesys." She looked around, but made sure that she stayed close to Dante. When she unknowingly grabbed the sleeve of his black coat, he let out a pained grunt. "Dante?" She gasped softly when she saw the blood running down from inside his sleeve and drip off his fingertips. "You got injured from them too!"

"N-No…I…"

"You're so stubborn!" She snapped out. Quickly, she grabbed his uninjured arm and ran into the nearest pharmacy. "Excuse me!" She yelled just as she entered the store.

"Will you keep your voice down? People are staring at us." Dante hissed.

The blue haired warrior ignored the odd glances the other people in the pharmacy gave her as she marched up to the front counter. An old man with kind brown eyes looked at them and immediately gave them two bottles of an orange potion.

"These probably won't help you two much with your injuries, but they'll help you enough so that I could get you two some clean bandages." He said.

Both Alice and Dante took the orange potions and popped the corks off.

"Are we really in a far worse condition that I thought we were?" Alice asked Dante, who had already begun drinking down the potion. He made a slight grimace when he finished up the bottle.

"I guess we are. He's the expert."

"We should've brought Minna along with us if we knew something like this was going to happen." The blue haired girl mumbled, taking an experimental sip of the potion. She nearly dropped the bottle and spit it out at the sour taste. "How in the world did you drink all this!?" Dante quieted her down once more when they got odd glances again.

"Just close your eyes and drink. I know it's not the best thing around, but he says it'll help us."

"Do _you_ feel any better?" Alice asked him skeptically. Without a response, Dante simply turned away. She huffed and finally brought the potion up to her lips and tilted her head back. In two gulps, she finished the horrid potion and slammed the glass bottle down on the counter. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, she exclaimed. "Finally!"

'_What are you…? At a tavern? Drink it more carefully!' _Dante thought to himself as Alice licked her lips and let out a disgruntled sound. He sighed. "Can't you be a bit more ladylike?"

"What are you talking about?" Alice snapped back. "I'm very girly you know!"

"Oh yeah, swinging around a huge polearm is so damn girly." He sarcastically replied.

"You…!" Just as Alice wound her arm back to punch him, the pharmacist came back with a box full of new bandages.

"You two! Stop making such a commotion in my store!" He yelled out. Both Dante and Alice stared at him with surprise. Neither of them thought that such an old man could yell so loudly.

-------------

"You're letting us stay here?"

"Of course. I hate letting the injured walk around in such a dangerous city like Kerning." The old man said. He carefully finished up wrapping the gauze bandage around Alice's head. "There we go! Now you…" He motioned for Dante to come sit on the low bed. Alice got off and stood behind the old man and watched as Dante took off his coat and shirt. The injury he sustained was far worse than she had imagined.

"You were shot by a gunslinger, correct?"

"Yes."

The old man clicked his tongue silently and told Dante to lie down. Alice stood by the low bed, anxious. "Dante! Why didn't you tell me you were hurt this badly!?"

"How should I know!?"

"Your skin's burnt around your injury!" She retorted.

He sat up suddenly. "I thought I was just shot! Not burnt!" He immediately flinched at the sudden pain. The old man begged for him to lie back down on the bed.

"No more yelling from the two of you!"

Alice crossed her arms over her chest and let out a soft 'hmph'. She watched as the man reached into the small kit beside him, filled with various medicines and bandages. "What are you going to do?"

"I'll need to extract the bullet from his shoulder. If it's left in there, there's a possibility his injury will get infected badly." The old man pulled out a pair of slim tweezers. "Please hold still."

Just as the tweezers reached into Dante's injury, the archer let out a pained cry. He gripped the bed sheets tightly and grit his teeth. The old man had to pull out the metal tool suddenly. "Please stay still! This is a delicate procedure!" He pulled out a potion bottle filled with white milky liquid. The cork was popped off and the old man poured some onto the bloody wound.

"Dr. Faymus? Is everything alright?" Someone asked from the front counter.

"Everything's fine. I'm just treating someone back here."

"Oh I'm sorry to disturb you!"

"It's fine."

He turned back to Dante, whose breathing stabilized again. Alice looked at the black haired man worriedly and asked Faymus, "Don't you have anything that could numb the pain?"

"I'm sorry. Something like that isn't within my reach just as a mere pharmacist. If only the other doctor in town, Dr. Niora was here…she may be able to get the bullet out much easier." The old man stood up and walked over to one of the shelves. He reached for a white towel sitting near some potion bottles and brought it over to Dante.

"Is that to wipe the blood?" Alice asked, seeing as how the wound was now starting to bleed freely.

"No, it's for him to bite down on."

She watched as the old man twisted the towel tightly and held it in front of Dante's mouth.

"If you bite down on this, it'll help ease the pain just a little bit." He assured. The archer took the cloth with his teeth and let out a soft sigh. Faymus took the tweezers and carefully reached into the wound once more. Dante bit down on the towel harshly and let out a pained groan. Just as he was about to thrash around, Alice grabbed his hand. "Don't." She said sternly. Her blue eyes narrowed at him. His grip on her hand was so tight that she thought she had lost circulation in it.

"How much longer!?" She asked the doctor as he continued to probe around.

"I can't seem to…oh…hold on…" He finally pulled out the small metal bullet. Dante relaxed his body and let out ragged breaths. His body was covered in a thin layer of sweat as Alice gripped his hand and took out the towel from in between his teeth. "Did it hurt?"

He panted softly before he responded. "Of course…it did…idiot…"

All she could do was smile as Faymus took out the rolled up bandages and soaked them with the white potion. Alice helped Dante sit up for the doctor to apply the bandages.

"You should give yourself a good two weeks before your injury heals fully." The doctor said just as he tied up the loose bandage. "When do you need to get back to Henesys?"

"By tomorrow. We aren't planning to stay here no more than two nights." Alice quickly responded.

"I see…I'll give you two some strengthening potions as well as some healing ones just in case as you make your way back."

"Thank you very much." The warrior replied with a smile.

Faymus left the back room and went back to the front counter of his pharmacy. Alice turned her attention towards Dante and asked, "Do you think you could make it back tomorrow?"

"Of course." He stood up and held his injured shoulder. "Do you think it'll be hard for you to walk around with that?" Dante flicked Alice's bandaged forehead lightly.

"Shut up…of course I can." The warrior stubbornly said.

Dante chuckled softly and looked down at his discarded coat and shirt. He picked up his coat and examined the bullet hole left on it. His blood as well as gunpowder burns were imprinted on around the hole. "I didn't think he shot me that close up."

"What if we meet them again when we're going back?" Alice asked worriedly.

"If we do, than we do. But, we should be safe. They didn't seem keen on killing us."

"I wonder why…?"

"Who knows." The archer sighed. He dropped his coat onto the floor and rummaged through the storage closet of the room.

Alice walked up behind him and asked, "What are you doing? What if he catches you?"

"I'm just trying to find a…" He grabbed a loose, white cotton shirt and slipped it over his head. Carefully, he put his arms into the sleeves and held his shoulder. "I'm sure he won't mind." When he walked towards the door leading out, Alice stopped him. She grabbed his wrist tightly.

"Where are you going? It's night time and you heard what Faymus said, Kerning's a dangerous city!"

"Dangerous for someone like you maybe…but not for me." He smiled as she gave her head a soft pet. Alice closed her eyes tightly until she could no longer feel his heavy hand on her head.

"It's still dangerous! Won't someone notice your Aegis mark?"

The loose white shirt hung low, exposing half of his chest, especially the part with the fire insignia tattoo. He shook his head. "Quit worrying about me. We've already lost a day because of our injuries. I've got to at least find out some information about Krylin while we're here." Dante smiled at her softly and left the room. Alice followed and shouted after him as he walked down the dark alleyway that led onto the main street.

"You better not get hurt again!"

-----------------

"Suspicious activity? Here?"

A dim candle lantern swung from the ceiling. The chain holding it up above the round wooden table, groaned and squeaked. Dante met the eyes of the informant again and asked, "What kind of activity has been here for the past few days?"

The informant tilted her head slightly in question and crossed her legs. "Activity? None. There are many cells within Kerning though that are talking about or already have joined Krylin."

Dante sighed and leant back in the wooden chair. "Do you know what they speak about?"

"Dangerous things." The woman immediately replied. Her waist length red hair swept the chair she was just sitting on just slightly as she stood up. Her high black leather boots clacked as she circled the table and Dante. "I think…they're staging a coup."

"What? Such a thing on Victoria Island?"

"It's not too hard."

The archer waited until the woman spoke once more.

"Dante…" She brought her voice down to a whisper. "These are dangerous times as most of us are aware of. People are turning against their own people. Alliances are being built and the enemy is getting stronger with each passing day…" Her ruby red eyes turned to him. She walked up to the table and placed both her hands on the wood and leant over close to his face.

"Please inform Miss Athena of my information and tell her to be careful of any traitors. The last thing we need is a spy that is working amongst us, learning our tactics and harvesting our sacred information."

"…I'll be sure to tell her. Thank you Rose." He stood up from his seat and began to walk out from the small tavern back room. Just as he placed his hand upon the doorknob, Rose spoke to him once more.

"Dante. You do well to protect yourself, you hear?"

"I know."

"And be careful out there. This city's falling apart with violent activity and most of its citizens don't do kindly to members of the Aegis."

The black haired man looked down at his tattoo and pulled his shirt collar over it in an attempt to conceal it. "Understood." The door squeaked as he opened it and squeaked again as he closed it behind him. The streets were still dark as usual, only illuminated by the various neon signs of shops and stores he passed by on his way back to the pharmacy.

"Please…help me…"

Dante stopped and looked down the dark alleyway. "Who's there?" He felt unarmed when he didn't feel the familiar weight of his bow hanging on his back. Cautiously, he walked down the alleyway and saw a young girl, curled up into a ball and sitting near a dumpster. She wore a hood over her head that concealed her eyes and much of her face.

"Are you hurt?" He asked as he knelt down beside her. Gently he touched her shoulder, but he quickly withdrew when she flinched. "I won't hurt you…" When the girl's trembling ceased at these words, Dante took it as a cue to help her get up. "I was just on my way to the city's pharmacy. You could rest there if you'd like. I'm sure the doctor there would take care of you just as he did with m-." Dante suddenly stopped when he felt a chill run up and down his spine.

He looked down at the girl and saw her completely still. He didn't know why, but he stood there unmoving until the girl took off her hood. The girl giggled and before Dante's eyes, she changed into an older woman. Her short cropped hair grew out into luscious thick waves of purple. Her eyes grew sharper and bolder and her body became more defined.

"Oh? Surprised….?" She chuckled when she saw him flinch. "Are you soothed by your master's voice Dante?"

"How do you know my name?" He demanded.

"Oh Dante…you wouldn't think your master wouldn't be able to know your name, now would she?"

"Master…?" He stepped back slowly. "Who are you…?"

"You don't know?" She laughed and waved a hand over his chest. Dante felt his whole body freeze up. He tried to lift his feet to run away, but he found it impossible to do so. The woman smirked and leant up. Her blood red lips were just beside his ear and she sensually whispered, "You should know me by now…from how much quests you go on to try and find out information about me."

Dante widened his eyes at his realization. "Kr-Krylin?"

"In the flesh." She laughed softly as she dragged her black long nails along his jaw line. "I suppose you don't remember me when I gave you my potion?"

"Potion?" He asked.

"Yes. I gave it to your useless partner in hopes of her slipping it into your drinks, but I guess that didn't work out too well." Krylin chuckled. She lowered her mouth to his neck and gave it a lick. "What a nice body…you would be perfect, just as I have imagined you'd be."

He clenched his teeth. His inability to do anything, even when the enemy was right there in front of him, was angering him. "If it's me you want, then hurry up and take me!" He shouted.

"So anxious, naïve Dante?" She laughed once more. "You're simply not ready yet. Soon…you will be. Soon, you'll become my eternal slave." Krylin traced the fire insignia tattoo on his collarbone and finally backed away. "Until next time then…" She smirked and instantly, she faded away.

Immediately as she left, Dante felt a huge force being lifted off his back. Silently, he fell to the ground. He suddenly felt weak and out of breath just as he had been when Faymus extracted the bullet from his shoulder. Coughing and gasping for breath, Dante wiped his mouth with the sleeve of the loose shirt. He began to recall when Alice gave him the potion vial and he left it on his nightstand before he went to sleep.

"Damn it…" He cursed when he considered the possibility that he had ingested the liquid. Clenching his fists, he stood up and left the alleyway.

Dante silently walked down the dimly lit sidewalks until he finally reached the pharmacy. He slipped behind the alley and went in through the back door.

"Where were you!?"

The archer simply glared at Alice for shouting at him. "You didn't go to sleep yet?"

"Of course I didn't! I was worried you got robbed or killed!"

"Like that could ever happen." He scoffed as he went over to the sink. Alice watched him and as she did, she noticed how dirty and scraped up his hands were.

"You didn't do anything dangerous right?"

"No." He simply responded. The running tap water gave a cooling sensation onto his burning palms. Slowly, the dirt that was in his scratches were swept away. Alice came up beside him.

In a quiet, nearly inaudible voice she mumbled, "I was worried about you…" Surprised at her words, Dante turned and faced her. His red eyes stayed slightly widened until he relaxed. A small smile worked its way across his face. "Don't even worry about me idiot." He raised a hand and placed it on her head. Alice looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. "I-It's only because we're partners that I'm worried about you."

"Of course." Dante responded. He gave her head one last rub before going over to the bed. Much to her shock, he sat down near the bed and leant back.

"Aren't you getting into bed?" She asked him questionably.

"You take it. I'm fine sleeping like this."

"You're more injured than I am!"

"Fine then." He quickly said as he climbed onto the bed.

"Wait a minute! You expect me to sleep on the floor!?"

"Then you should've taken the bed!"

"Such a gentleman you are!"

"Shut up, you're confusing as hell. Every woman is…"

"Damn it, move over!"

After an hour of fighting, they both finally agreed to sleep together in the bed. Alice had her back turned to Dante and he had his back turned to her. Given the narrowness of the bed, their backs were flat against each other.

"Hey. Can't you move over anymore?" Dante grumbled.

"If I do I'll fall off!"

The black haired man sighed tiredly and closed his eyes. He felt sandwiched between Alice and the wall, but somehow, he felt content.

"Dante…?" Alice asked him. When all she heard was silence, she sat up and looked at him. "Dante?" She couldn't help but smile when she saw that he was already fast asleep.

'_Probably tired from all that we've been through today...' _Alice reached down and gently rubbed his head. She leant down and hesitated slightly before giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight Dante…" Quietly, she laid back down on the bed and let sleep consume her.

Dante opened his eyes and smiled softly. "You idiot…" He chuckled lightly before falling asleep.

-------------------

"Traitors?"

"Yes. Rose told me to relay that information to you, Miss Athena."

The silver haired elf furrowed her brow in deep thought. "Did she tell you how long ago she discovered this, Dante?"

"No she did not. I'm sorry, I should've asked-."

"It's fine." Athena cut in. "You did good Dante. As well as you Miss Everard." She bowed and in turn both Dante and Alice returned the action. "Dismissed."

The two walked out of the huge meeting room and walked down the hallways of the council building.

"Is it really true the Rose lady said there could be traitors and spies within the Aegis?"

"That's what she implied. But we can't be for certain unless we actually find a spy."

Alice followed Dante out and didn't realize that she had followed him mindlessly all the way to the units he lived in.

"Are you planning to follow me everywhere?" He asked.

"Eh?" She looked around and widened her eyes. "Why did you bring me here!?"

"Shut up! You brought yourself!" He barked back, unlocking the door to his unit. Alice looked around his room and briefly saw that the whole room seemed untidy and dirty. The bookshelf filled with thick books was covered in a layer of dust. The only thing that seemed orderly was his bed.

"Don't you ever clean this place?"

"I never really get a chance to. I'm too tired after a quest." He sighed and plopped down on the bed. "If you want, you could clean it for me."

"No way." Alice immediately replied as she stood in front of the bookshelf.

"Then I'll ask Minna to clean it for me."

"She's not your personal slave!" She yelled back at him. "Just clean it up yourself, you lazy bastard!"

Dante sighed and closed his eyes. Just as he was about to fall asleep again, there was a hurried knock on the door. Alice opened up the door and she saw one of the council messengers.

"Eh? Was there something we forgot to tell Athena?" She asked him.

"No. You two have been assigned to another quest."

"Another one!?" Alice groaned. "Come on Dante." She motioned for him to come over to the door.

The archer glared at her as he got off from the bed and walked to the doorway. "Are you forgetting who the higher ranking Aegis than you is?" Alice huffed at his question.

"Actually, Athena requested that you two be assigned different quests."

"What!?" They both exclaimed.

The messenger continued. "All the details are in these scrolls." He handed the two of them their letters of information. "Athena expects both of you to head out tonight." With that briefing, he left the unit.

Alice unrolled her scroll and read the information. Her bright blue eyes scanned the document quickly. "I'm going on a quest with Minna and Ada!" She felt a smile paint itself across her face. It's been a while since she and Ada were paired up for such things. On the top of her document however, she saw a large boldfaced letter 'D'.

"D?" She asked out loud. "That's not a grade, is it?"

"Of course not. You're not in the academy idiot." Dante scoffed at her ridiculous question. "Didn't they teach you? Quests are assigned difficulty levels, A through E."

Alice looked back at her letter 'D' and frowned. "Then does a 'D' mean the quest is easy?"

"For me, yes. For you, it'll be hard."

The warrior glared at him. "Don't get so cocky…" She muttered. "What letter did you get anyways?"

"B." He replied, grabbing his bow that rested near the door. Dante left the room and Alice followed him.

"Won't 'B' be too hard for you?" She asked, sneering at his arrogance.

"Of course it will be if I were by myself."

"Who's your partner then?"

"Cedric."

Alice deepened her feelings of distaste. Two Aegis platoon leaders get a 'B' ranked quest and three 'fresh-out the –academy' martyrs get a 'D' rank quest that might prove to be too hard for them still.

"Don't get so upset over it. You should be glad you got a 'D' rank quest." Dante told her.

"Why?"

"Because…people who get 'A' and 'B' ranked quests rarely come back alive." He whispered, his voice barely audible.

At this, Alice widened her eyes and stopped. She watched Dante walk on towards the Eastern gates. "Wait! What do you mean by that!? Dante!" She called out after him.

"Oh Alice! There you are!"

The blue haired warrior turned around and saw both Ada and Minna running up to her. Ada grinned almost ear to ear and threw her arm around Alice's shoulders. "Isn't this awesome!? We're finally going on a quest together! Plus, I get to have some time away from _my_ womanizing partner and you get to get away from _your_ asshole of a partner!"

For some reason, all Alice could do was give a faint smile. Dante's last words haunted her. She looked over to where Dante had walked off and saw that he had vanished from sight.

'_People who get 'A' and 'B' ranked quests rarely come back alive…'_

"Well anyways, let's get going!" Ada cheered loudly. Alice walked behind them and continuously looked back. She clenched her fists tightly and whispered. "You had better come back alive you asshole."

* * *

**A/N **_I know recently I've been updating quite fast. (In my point of view anyways.) I'm finally catch up with all the chapters that I have written. I'm now writing Chapter 9 so from now on, the chapters might come out in a week or two each time. Hopefully that won't kill the suspense of the story. I'm grateful for all of you that read this. (Yes, I check my hits counter everyday. Yes, I do know I must get out more.) I appreciate your support!_

Duncan - To answer your question, I'm a gunslinger. However, as of this moment, I don't play on the regular server. (I know some might look down upon me, but it doesn't really matter.) I'm currently on a private server for Maple. Eventually, I'll get tired of it and I'll come back to Global MS. In the meantime though....meh.

Sorry my answer turned out to be long winded.


	9. Sanctuary

**A/N **_God damn it. I'm so sorry for this mistake I made everyone! Cedric is not a bandit. He's a chief bandit. The main reason why I just noticed this now is because Cedric (in my opinion) kicks ass this chapter and he cannot do so if he remains as a nooby bandit. (Haha). Anyways, review it if you like this chapter. It's a bit longer than the rest of the chapters._

**Chapter 9: Sanctuary  
**

-------------------

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Assassin_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

_-------------------_

The sun had already started to disappear behind the huge mountain ranges. Late night creatures began to prowl around and make their nightly calls throughout the wilderness.

"I'm sorry!" Minna cried out. She trembled at the sight of the dead rabbit hanging just by its hind legs where Ada was holding it. The orange haired cleric shook her head sorrowfully and whimpered. "I couldn't get the fire to light and the flint I used is unusable now."

Ada sighed as she roughly threw the rabbit carcass down near the fire. Minna flinched at the sight of the cute creature's dead body.

"You can't start the fire yourself Minna?" Alice asked as she sat down at the opposite side of the cleric.

"I-I have read books on fire magic, but I'm afraid I'm incapable of producing even an ember." She cried again. "I'm sure you two would have been better off with Cedric and Dante than with me."

"Yeah no kidding." Ada grumbled. Alice gave her friend a punch on the arm. "Ow! What!?" The thief barked back.

"It's fine Minna." Alice said cheerfully to the weeping cleric. "I-I'm sure we could find some other way of lighting the wood up." She laughed nervously as her stomach let out a soft grumbling sound. They were all getting hungry and what was worse, was that the temperature was beginning to drop slowly. They _needed_ that fire.

Alice grabbed one of the sturdier sticks in the bunch of firewood they had collected. She placed both her hands on either side of the stick and rubbed. Ada saw this and groaned. She tilted her head back up to the night sky and shouted. "We're never going to eat!"

* * *

"I'm hungry!"

"Deal with it."

"And I'm tired!"

Dante turned around sharply, so much that Cedric almost bumped into him. The archer narrowed his red eyes at his friend and whispered, "Do you seriously call yourself an Aegis platoon leader?"

Cedric laughed. "Funny thing! Ada says the same thing to me!" He laughed more as Dante let out a growl of frustration and continued walking.

"I wonder if the girls are doing okay." Cedric said as they continued down the gnarled path towards the underground dungeons.

"I'm sure they're fine."

"Of course they are." The green haired bandit let out a light laugh. "After all, Ada's with them."

* * *

"Mmm? Ada…?"

"Shhh, we're leaving."

"Huh? Why?" Alice asked sleepily. They had managed to get the fire started and cook their dinner a top it. After eating a meal, all three fell asleep right away.

"I have a feeling we're being followed."

"Huh?" Alice brought her voice down to a whisper. She looked beside her and saw Minna still fast asleep. "We should go then."

Ada nodded in response as they both quickly attempted to wake Minna up.

"Minna?" Alice whispered. She gently shook the girl's thin arm and wondered if the girl wasn't cold in her thin sleeveless robes. "Minna? Wake up. We have to leave right now."

"Huh? What…?" The girl mumbled as she finally woke up and rubbed her red eyes. "Why now?"

"I feel as if we're being followed." Ada whispered to her.

"Eh!? What!?" Minna exclaimed, fully awake now.

Both girls shushed her loudly and clasped their hands over the orange haired girl's mouth. Minna whimpered and trembled.

"Come on." The assassin whispered.

Ada and Alice helped Minna to her feet, their hands still over the poor girl's mouth. They managed to walk away from their campsite for a few feet before Ada stopped once more.

"Are we still being followed?"

The thief remained silent until finally she widened her gray eyes. She looked above them and yelled. "Move!" Alice grabbed Minna by the shoulders and dodged the attack. She heard a thundering boom just beside her and trembled at the loud noise. Her blue eyes opened up when the debris lessened. A huge man, the size of all three of them stacked on top of each other, head to toe, stood where they had once been. He looked like a bulky behemoth, with his bulging muscles rippling underneath rotting flesh. Brandishing his two giant steel hammers, he glowered at them with his completely red eyes.

"Alice! Be careful! He's a corpse brought back to life by dark magic!"

Alice grimaced at the acrid scent of rotten flesh. She brought out her polearm and told Minna to stay behind. "Don't get hurt." She told the cleric before she jumped into battle. Alice swung her heavy weapon, only to have it blocked by one of the hammers. She fought to keep her stance at the impact, but soon she was flung away by the beast's sheer strength. Her back made impact with the trunk of a tree and she heard the wood splinter behind her.

Ada glared and jumped up high above the monster. She took out some throwing knives out of her sleeves and flung them down at the monster. They each met their mark and penetrated the thick skull. The huge monster bellowed lowly and fell to the ground with a thundering thud. Ada landed on her feet just beside the fallen corpse. She ran over to Alice, who was being healed by Minna.

"Alice! Are you okay!?"

"Mmm…" The blue haired warrior opened her eyes and Ada let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank god…"

Alice gave her friend a weak smile before turning her attention over to the fallen dead body. "What exactly _is_ that?" She placed a hand over her mouth and nose in an attempt to mask the putrid stench of the rotting flesh.

The black haired thief looked over at the huge beast and answered, "It's probably a corpse that Krylin raised from the dead. Athena told me about them when Cedric and I went to turn in one of our earlier quests." She seemed unfazed by the smell as she stood up. "Come on, we should continue onward towards Ellinea."

Alice nodded, but before she could stand up, Minna let out a scream filled with terror.

"Ada! Watch out!" She screamed.

Before she could react, Ada felt her body being constricted. The beast had reawakened and had grabbed her tightly in one of its massive hands. She struggled to get free.

"Ada!" Alice gripped her polearm and charged forth. She swung with all her strength, but the monster blocked her attack with its hammer. The steel from the two weapons shrieked as they impacted each other. The huge beast slid back slightly, overwhelmed by Alice's power. It grunted and threw Ada away in the opposite direction. The thief was thrown into the foliage of nearby trees and she was knocked unconscious as she slumped to the ground.

"Minna! Go heal Ada!" Alice shouted, breaking the hold she had with the beast's hammer. The orange haired cleric nodded and tried to make her away around the fight. However, the monster swung its hammers around haphazardly. Minna cried out as she fell to the ground. She widened her eyes when she saw one of the massive hammers being aimed towards her.

"Alice! Help!" She screamed as she cowered in fear.

The warrior clenched her teeth tightly as she blocked a swing from the monster. She looked over at Minna and saw that she had just barely dodged one of the swings out of sheer luck. Alice saw another swing aimed for the cleric. "Minna!" She let the force of the hammer slide down the length of her polearm. The metals shrieked once more as she slid out from underneath the monster's mighty force. With an agile spin, she just barely blocked the swing directed at Minna.

"Hurry! Go heal Ada now!" Alice grunted as both of the monster's hammers were swung down at her. The ground beneath her feet crumbled and cracked. Minna sat behind her, terrified. The warrior saw this from the side of her eyes and shouted. "What are you waiting for!? Hurry up!"

The cleric clenched her orange jeweled staff and stood up. "You need more help than she does!"

"What are you talking about!?" Alice cried out sharply as she felt herself getting pushed back faster and faster. "Heal her!"

"No!" Minna raised the jeweled orb on the tip of her staff to eyelevel and positioned herself as if she were shooting an arrow. A white light materialized around her arms and hands and eventually made the shapes of a bow and arrow. Her right hand drew back and finally let go. A sharp needle of light flew through the air and just past Alice. It hit dead center in the monster's shoulder. Despite the fact that the arrow was very thin, the monster growled loudly as it backed away.

Alice felt the tension in her arms and legs fade away as she felt the monster's strength recede. She turned around and saw Minna shooting away more needles of light towards the huge monster. Each one hit the rotted body and each one seemed to be causing more pain than the last.

"Alice! Give some of your potions to Ada in the meantime." Minna said as she continued to shoot away.

The warrior nodded quickly. She rushed over to her friend and gently turned her over. Alice took out a bottle of red liquid and popped the cork. She held the back of Ada's head and gently tilted the bottle against her lips. The thief opened her eyes just a crack once the whole potion was drunk.

"Ada?" The blue haired girl smiled when she saw her friend give her a smile back. "Don't worry, Minna will heal you soon."

"…Wh-What's happening right n-now?" Ada weakly coughed. She tried to turn her head over to where she heard the sound of the beast.

"Minna's protecting us." Alice admitted with a slight giggle.

"Heh, what a change in pace…" Ada laughed softly. "She's not so useless after all." The thief then bowed her head down and fell back into unconsciousness. Alice quickly looked over to Minna and saw her narrow her red eyes at the monster.

The orange haired cleric let out a cry and shot the very last arrow to hit the monster. It flew through the air briefly before piercing the beast right on its chest. It roared loudly. The massive hammers in both of its hands fell to the ground just before it did. The ground shook slightly at the impact and finally everything grew silent.

Minna stood there, panting for a while before running over to Alice and Ada. "I'm sorry, I'll heal her right away!" She placed her staff across Ada's body. Both her hands were outstretched as a soft green bubble began to form at her palms. Alice saw the green bubbles touch Ada and enter her body. She switched her gaze to Minna and saw the cleric's brow covered in sweat.

"Are you okay Minna?"

"I-I'm fine. Just a little tired."

"You should rest."

The cleric shook her head vigorously. "Ada might die because I didn't do anything sooner! I knew the monster was undead and I could've done something earlier so that she wouldn't have ended up like this!" Tears began to roll down Minna's smooth cheeks. "I am a cleric! I'm supposed to take care of people and yet I've let both of you do all the protecting for me!" Her hands faltered, letting go of the incomplete green healing bubble in her hands. "The least I could do is try to heal you two right now!" She attempted to make another bubble a few more times, each without success.

Alice immediately grabbed her hands and whispered. "You're out of mana."

Minna trembled and cried out loud once more at her idiotic ignorance. The warrior sighed and pulled out a small blue potion from her fanny pack. "It's my last and only one. It probably won't restore your mana fully like it does with me, but it'll be enough for you to heal Ada, right?" She gave Minna a smile as the cleric looked at her through teary eyes.

Sniffling, Minna took the potion and wiped her tears. "I feel so stupid sometimes…" She laughed lightly, taking the cork off the top. Alice smiled and whispered softly, "We all do."

Minna wiped away her last tear with a giggle as she drank the potion.

* * *

"I wonder how the girls are doing." Cedric wondered out loud as he put out the campfire.

It was morning and the sun's rays shone brightly through the lush canopies of evergreen pine trees. They were just a few minutes walk away from the Dungeon's main gates.

"Do you want to join them?" Dante asked, fastening the leather strap across his chest. The bow holstered on his back let out a soft clicking noise as it moved.

"Of course I do!" The green haired thief replied back.

Dante sighed. He hadn't expected his friend to be this honest. "I don't understand…" He had started to walk away when Cedric ran up to him and threw an arm around the archer's shoulders.

"Come on Dante! Even if you are a stiff…" Cedric gave a nervous laugh when he saw his friend's red eyes glare at him. "You must be at the least bit interested in women, right?"

"They're annoying."

"Even Alice?"

The black haired man remained silent. Cedric laughed and gave his friend a slap on the back. "So you do like her!"

"Hey! We need to concentrate on the task at hand here!" Dante shouted, annoyed at the bandit.

"Alright, whatever you say." Cedric chuckled.

The two walked on through the lush forest until they finally met the Dungeon entrance gates. The guard let them pass as soon as he saw Dante.

"You have more business in there?" He asked, turning the crank to open up the wooden barred gates. Dante remained silent. The guard took this as a sign for him to ask no further questions. "Watch your backs…" He said as they both walked past him.

"Damn it, that guy always makes these small trips into the Dungeon seem so fucking frightening." The green haired man gave an involuntary shiver.

"This isn't a small trip Cedric."

"What are you talking about? Are you trying to get me scared too?"

"Didn't you read anything that was on our information scrolls?" Dante asked his friend, seeing the small town of Sleepywood ahead. Cedric quirked an eyebrow up and brought his hands up to the back of his head.

"Come on…you really think I read all that?"

The archer sighed. "Of course you don't…" He muttered.

As soon as they stepped into the town, it immediately felt cooler than before. Despite the tall trees blocking out most, if not all, of the daily sunlight, there were small children running around the small village.

"Where are we supposed to go from here?" Cedric asked. Dante pointed over to giant gaping hole just at the other side of the village. The bandit exclaimed, "What!? We're supposed to go down there!?"

"Athena specifically told us to go into Ant Tunnel."

"But there's nothing other than weak little monsters in there. Why is she sending us all the way down for?"

Before they could get any closer to the hole in the ground, a soft kind voice stopped them.

"Oh, are you two planning to go down there?"

They both turned around and saw a young woman holding a small baby in her arms. The children that were once running all around the village had come up beside her. Both Dante and Cedric assumed that the young woman was a daycare manager.

"Yes, we have business we need to take care of down there." Dante reported.

"I see…" The young woman looked at them worriedly. "I'm sorry to be meddling in your affairs. But it's just that, the elders of our villages forbid anyone to go into those tunnels anymore."

"Why is that?" Cedric questioned.

Dante narrowed his eyes and looked back at the gaping hole. "Cedric…Athena's sending us in there to take out a cell."

"Huh!?"

"There have been numerous reports of Krylin's army been very active within the deeper reaches of the tunnel."

Cedric gave a grin and a sneer chuckle. "About time she assigned me an exciting quest." He ran towards the hole and simply jumped in, Dante sighed tiredly and walked over to it.

"Please be careful." The daycare manager said. The children beside her remained silent, terrified that someone was daring to go into the hole that their elders have told otherwise.

Dante gave a little smile and nodded. "We will." He pushed off on one leg and immediately he fell into the darkness of the underground.

-------------------

"How far in do we have to go?"

"Far." Dante simply replied.

They went through the tunnels quickly. Every second that passed, the surroundings got colder and darker.

"Why is a Krylin cell all the way in Ant Tunnel? Won't communication be hard for them?"

"I don't think communication is the least of their concerns Cedric."

"Huh?"

They finally saw a bright light ahead. Both of them stopped immediately just as the ground below changed from a dirty black to a shimmering blue. Dante grabbed his bow and pulled it out from its hold. Seeing this, Cedric took his own weapon from its hold around his waist. He slipped it over his hand and followed Dante into the depths of the Sanctuary.

"So…what do you think they're planning here?" Cedric asked his friend.

"The cell in here was probably given only one mission." Dante whispered. "Think about it…this is the heart of Victoria Island. They know that something here keeps the rest of this island alive and well."

"So you think they'll blow this place up or something?"

"It's possible. That's why Athena wants us to take out this cell."

The two of them ran down a narrow trail running along the sides of a huge wall. Down below was nothing but an endless inky darkness. Rocks crumbled and rolled down as Dante and Cedric ran swiftly across. They made sure neither of them even made the slightest noise inside the Sanctuary.

"Hey…I heard there's still Tauromacis running around in here." The green haired bandit said.

"There still is. "

"Great…it'll be a pain if we run into one, right?" Cedric sighed.

Just then, they heard a thundering rumble. The narrow ledge they were running on was now starting to fall apart.

"Come on!" Dante shouted over the noise. He and Cedric ran as fast as they could, trying to outrun the crumbling trail behind them. In the nick of time, they ran onto a wide, flat cliff jutting out from the blue walls. The archer looked back at the trail they had once walked and saw it was completely gone. Cedric chuckled and wiped his brow. "That was close right?"

"A little too close." Dante replied with a slight smile. Suddenly, his eyes went wide and he whipped around with his bow raised.

Behind them were dozens of Krylin's soldiers. All of them had gray masks on to conceal their identities. It surprised both of them because of how they went undetected until now.

"Stay back!" The archer shouted. A golden arrow materialized in his hands and he drew it back. When one of them dashed forward to attack, Dante let go and the arrow pierced through the soldier's chest. He gagged and fell down dead.

Cedric grinned when he saw all of them getting ready to attack. "This will be fun…" He said under his breath with a smirk. In a flash he disappeared and the next second, three of the soldiers were dead. He reappeared at the other side of the crowd of soldiers.

When Dante didn't see any of them fazed by their attacks, he raised his bow again and this time, the arrow caught on fire. Just as Cedric disappeared again, Dante let go of the arrow and watched it hit one man squarely in the stomach. Suddenly, a loud roaring sound was heard as hundreds of more flaming arrows came raining down on the soldiers. Throughout this, Cedric zipped in and out of the crowd. His dagger slashing through who ever he passed.

In no time, all the soldiers that have met them on the Cliffside were all dead.

"Hey look." Cedric pointed towards the mouth of a small cave, opposite of where Dante was standing. "It looks like they came out from there."

"Yeah. I'll bet you anything that's where the cell is. Come on."

They both ran towards the cave. Once inside, they found out that it was inky black. Nothing could be seen even a foot away.

"Ah!" Cedric's cry rang out, followed by a loud thud.

"What happened?"

"I fell."

Dante sighed and shook his head. "And you call yourself a bandit…"

"I heard that!"

"You were meant to."

Before Cedric could retort, Dante quickly shushed him and held out his hand to the side, stopping the bandit from walking any further. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

The archer's sharp red eyes scanned around the darkness and whispered. "We're getting close to the cell." They walked with caution, making sure that they were making no sound. Finally, they saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Dante rested his back against the walls of the cave and looked down. Directly below them was a huge, dry lakebed. Within the lakebed were dozens of soldiers.

"There was a lake here?"

"I think this whole place used to be filled with water a long time ago." He looked down again and saw that the soldiers were arming themselves as if they were preparing for an attack. "Shit…" Dante whispered, getting his bow ready again.

"What's the matter? What do you see?" Cedric asked.

"They know there's an intruder." Dante paused, keeping his eyes on their base. "They're getting ready to find and attack us." The archer clicked his tongue in annoyance when he found there was no place where they could hide other than the only exit for the soldiers. "We need to get out there. Are you ready?"

Cedric held his dagger up to his face and nodded. In a flash, he disappeared from beside Dante. Within the next second, the archer saw a black blur zooming around below in the lakebed. Soldiers were beginning to fall to the ground dead. That's when Dante got out from the shadows of the tunnel and shot out his arrows. Each of them hit their mark.

"Sir! We're losing men quickly!" A soldier exclaimed. The man he was speaking to clenched his teeth and turned around to see that his soldiers were dying rapidly. In a glimpse, he caught the sight of Cedric.

"Forget about him!" He turned back around and pointed his sharp sword at Dante. "Take down that archer!"

Upon hearing this, Cedric stopped just as he slashed through another body. "Damn it…Dante! Watch out!" He yelled. The bandit searched around the enemy soldiers and focused his green eyes upon the man that shouted the orders. "Bastard…"

Just as a few soldiers were about to bring down their weapons on him, Cedric disappeared in a flash and reappeared next to the man who shouted the orders. He let out a yell as he gave a sweeping kick towards the man's head. The man dodged, but Cedric came around once more and used his other leg to kick the man squarely in the stomach. He was knocked off his feet and thrown back into a stack of crates. Cedric grabbed him by the collar of his uniform.

To his surprise, the man gave a low chuckle. "You two did good."

"Huh?"

"Wiping out my entire army." Cedric turned around and found that Dante had shot down most of the remaining soldiers. He didn't realize himself on how many he had killed prior. He turned back to the man and questioned, "Were you their general? Do you report back to Krylin!?"

The man chuckled once more. The green haired bandit raised his dagger, preparing to strike.

"You Aegis are so foolish."

Cedric heard Dante come up behind him.

"What do you mean…?"

"Cedric…" Dante intervened. "Let him go. He's of no use to us."

"But if we let him go, he'll report back to Krylin and-."

"He won't. Sooner or later, the monsters in the Sanctuary will get him. It's better to leave his fate up to them rather than burden ourselves with his death."

The bandit glared at the man before letting go. The man chuckled again just as Dante began to walk away.

"Dante…that's your name isn't it?"

The black haired man stopped in his tracks.

"…Cecilia and Alec…they were great fighters weren't they?"

Dante clenched his fists tightly. The man laughed. "Oh? So, have I gotten your attention? Did I strike a poor nerve within you?" He threw his head back and laughed wildly. "So this is the fate of the Kyudo lineage?"

Cedric looked at Dante and back at the man laughing wildly. Without a second thought, he slit the throat of the man quickly. In no time, the man's laughter died down and his head fell to a rest.

Closing his eyes as he walked away, Dante tried to push the man's words out of his head.

"…_they were great fighters weren't they?...So this is the fate of the Kyudo lineage?"_

* * *

"Dante. Hey Dante! Slow down!" Cedric grabbed his friend's shoulder. "Hey!"

"What?" The archer snapped out.

"You've been awfully silent since we got out of the Dungeon."

"So what if I am? That's none of your concern."

"Actually it is. I'm your friend."

They were both back in Henesys. It turned out that they had spent the night within Ant Tunnel and when they came out it was morning. Both of them felt the weight of fatigue weigh them down as they made their way towards the main council building.

"Why don't you want to talk about it?" Cedric asked. When Dante remained silent, the bandit grabbed his friend's shoulder again and forcefully turned him around. The archer hit his hand away and yelled. "I told you, this doesn't even concern you!"

Frustrated, Cedric threw a punch at the archer and grabbed his shirt collar. "I'm your friend! We've been friends for nearly 14 years! Hell, you're like family to me! So don't fucking say this doesn't concern me!"

Dante stared at his friend, whom he knew to be very laidback and easygoing. The sudden change in personality surprised him. Some people passing by threw them worried glances, wondering if a fight would break out.

The archer felt the dull pain from Cedric's punch on his cheek. He relaxed slightly with a smile. "…I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Cedric loosened his grip. "S-Sorry?"

"What's the matter?" Dante asked, holding his injured cheek as his friend let him go.

"Nothing…it's just that I never really expected you to apologize so easily."

Dante let out a light scoff in response. "I never expected you to have that kind of personality." He smiled as Cedric gave a sheepish grin. The sudden change of tone in their conversation got them both laughing.

------------------

"I see…so Cecilia and Alec were your parents…?"

"Mhmm."

Cedric looked thoughtfully down at his beer. He and Dante had decided to talk inside a tavern. As loud and chaotic it was in there, it was unexpectedly the perfect place for them to meet. Everyone was so caught up in their own meetings and conversations, no one had the interest in what anyone else was doing.

"Well..." Cedric brought the beer up to his lips and drank. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, of which Dante thought was unruly. "…We could have brought the guy in for questioning."

"It's fine. He probably didn't know much about them anyways."

"But he knew them by name."

Dante remained silent. He kept his eyes away from his friend the whole time. Cedric drank his beer once more. "Hey. You didn't even touch yours."

The archer looked down at his own cup and saw the honey colored liquid still filled all the way to the brim. "I'm not that thirsty."

Cedric scoffed and let out a snicker. "You don't drink this stuff because you're thirsty. You drink it because you want to feel better."

"That's a rather shallow reason." Dante mumbled.

"Call it what you want." The bandit replied, taking another gulp. He let out a content sigh. "You're missing out though." He smiled.

The black haired man couldn't help but smile at his friend. He looked down at his own cup of beer before taking it in his hand. "Jeez…this is the reason why Athena thinks you're irresponsible." Dante said before drinking his beer. Cedric let out a soft 'tch' and opened his mouth to talk, but instead he stared at his friend.

"Hey…D-Dante…?" The bandit grimaced when Dante chugged down the entire cup in one go. "Oi…you're not supposed to do that."

"Why not?"

"You'll get drunk faster."

When Dante put on a stoic expression once more, Cedric shook his head. "Never mind. It'll be near impossible to see you drunk."

---------------

"That went very nicely!" Ada cheered.

"Eh? You're happy that we got such an easy quest?" Alice asked, closely following her friend from behind.

"Of course! We finish these easier quests faster and if we do that Athena will promote us faster up the ranks."

"Oh! I see!" The warrior exclaimed. She imagined herself as a full-fledged Aegis member. Although she didn't tell any living soul, but she occasionally found herself daydreaming, wondering what the life of being an Aegis member would be. "Hey Ada?"

"Hm?"

"How long does it take to be a platoon leader?"

"Tch, you're the smarter one Alice."

"But I can be misinformed!" The blue haired girl shouted.

Ada stopped and turned around. "Cedric told me he and Dante took two years becoming platoon leaders."

"So two years?"

"Well…he did say that they were the first ones to get up that high at such a young age."

Alice looked at her friend in disbelief.

'_How did that bastard make it up the ranks that fast!?'_

A cool breeze swept over them. The high trees of Ellinea swayed and their leaves rustled softly.

"It's beautiful here isn't it Alice!?" Minna exclaimed, giving the warrior a slight scare.

"It is. Did you grow up here Minna?"

"Mhmm!" The cleric cheerfully replied. "I loved exploring the inside of these trees! They're huge inside and really, really pretty!"

"Didn't you ever get lost?" Alice asked nervously. She couldn't imagine how in the world a small child could navigate themselves around the tall tree forests without being hopelessly lost.

"Of course not! Only the village idiots would get lost!" Minna giggled.

'_You put it in such a cruel way Minna…' _Alice thought to herself.

* * *

"God damn it…Dante!" Cedric shouted, hoping to wake his friend. He held on tightly to his friend's arm that was slung around his shoulders. It was getting tiring supporting the full weigh of a grown man, not to mention the bow on his back. "So in the end you ended up drinking…9 cups was it?" All Cedric do was sigh when he saw Dante hang his head down even lower.

"Jeez if Athena ever saw you like this…"

"Cedric!"

The bandit jumped slightly, surprised at the sudden voice. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Ada, Alice, and Minna. "Thank goodness, I thought it was Athena."

"Eh? What happened to him? He isn't hurt is he?" Alice asked, rushing up to Dante's other side to support him.

"No nothing of that sort." Cedric laughed. "He just…got drunk."

"Eh!?" The warrior exclaimed. She turned her attention to Dante. "Hey! You! Wake up! What if the town comes under attack!? What will you do then huh!?" Alice awaited a decent response, but all she got was a low grumble of incoherent words. "I'm sorry Cedric, do you mind if I take him back to his apartment?"

"Of course. Takes a load off my back, that's for sure." The bandit replied with a laugh.

Immediately, Ada grabbed Cedric's ear and shouted, "Look! Your bad behavior influenced Dante too! Do you see how troublesome your existence is!?"

"Only a matter of time before it influences you Ada." The green haired man replied with a playful grin. "I wouldn't mind having a _bad_ girl as my partner…" He was suddenly hit on the head by Ada. The assassin trembled with annoyance and anger. "Wh-Who's a bad girl you say!?"

"A-Ada…" Cedric whimpered.

"Why did I ever get a horny, perverted partner like you!?" She yelled, proceeding to hit him repeatedly.

"Ah! Ada! Stop! He'll get hurt!" Minna cried out.

Alice sighed at the scene in front of her and muttered, "I'll be going now…"

'_Jeez…causing so much commotion in the middle of the night.'_

She continued walking and she occasionally brought herself to look up at the full moon. It was already well past midnight and in a few hours, the sun would rise. Alice looked down at Dante, who was just barely walking as the warrior supported him. She tightened her grip on his arm as she went into the housing units and climbed the wooden stairs. Dante mumbled something else, but Alice decided to ignore it seeing as how everything the archer was now saying was rubbish.

"Okay, we're here…" Alice managed to fish the keys out of Dante's pockets and open up the door to his unit. Carefully, she released the clip holding Dante's bow on his back. The leather strap loosened and finally fell to the ground along with the bow in a loud thud. She winced and knew the archer would scold her later for making a dent on his weapon. She released her own polearm and set it down on the ground gently so that it wouldn't make such a loud sound. Finally, Alice clumsily walked over the bed and tried to deposit him onto the bed gently, but instead she threw him down from nearly caving underneath his weight. His body hit the bed with a thump, but he remained unmoving. The warrior assumed he was fast asleep by now.

"Goodnight…" She whispered with a soft smile before turning to leave.

"…Wait…"

Alice widened her blue eyes when she felt a grip on her wrist. She turned around and saw Dante, half-awake.

"Eh? What did you want?"

"….I…"

"If you're not going to say anything important, I'm leaving. You need your rest." She turned back, but she felt the grip on her wrist tighten. "Dante…"

"I don't…want to be left…alone anymore."

In surprise, the warrior turned her head towards him. Without a word, she knelt by his bed and grabbed his hand. "Aren't you going to sleep?" Alice asked when she saw Dante's red eyes looking at her calmly. The archer whispered, "If I go to sleep…you'll leave."

"Th-That's not true!" Alice laughed nervously. She straightened up when she saw how sad Dante looked. Her grip on his calloused hand tightened. She clasped her other hand over and smiled. "See? I'm not leaving."

"…Why are you down there?"

"Eh?"

"Get up here."

"That's your bed."

"So…?"

"So? You would get mad if you were the least bit conscious right now." She replied in a straight forward manner. Alice saw his face grow sullen once more. With a soft huff, she got up on the bedside and sat down. "Jeez…you're acting like a little kid right now…"

"Stay here with me."

"I will, I will. Don't worry." Alice reassured him. She widened her eyes in surprised when she felt him pull her down. Her head met the side of his pillow harshly. "What the hell are you doing!?" She yelled at him. Immediately Alice grew silent when she felt his arms wrap around her body.

"Don't leave me."

"I already told you I won't."

"….Please."

The warrior sunk into the bed slightly, figuring she shouldn't object to him. He sounded heart broken and sad to her. Because of this, she wondered if something happened to him during his quest.

She blushed softly when she felt Dante's light breaths against the back of her neck. "You smell like alcohol…" Alice whispered. She didn't try to cover her nose or breathe through her mouth. Alice normally would have pushed whoever it was that smelled like alcohol or smoke, but with Dante she felt comfortable. The smell didn't bother her at all.

"Dante…?"

Alice relaxed when she heard the archer's soft breaths behind her. She smiled a little and closed her own eyes to let sleep overcome her.

"Goodnight Dante…"

------------------

**A/N **_This question was asked last chapter by a reviewer. Minna joined the Aegis "unofficially" I suppose. It slipped my mind that I should have added something about her joining. Anyways my apologizes if that caused confusion to some of you last chapter. _


	10. A New Quest

**A/N **_Sorry for the delay of this chapter. Sadly, I must say that I wish I could have made it longer. Since I am on Winter Break, hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in another chapter before school starts up again. Anyways, thanks for all of you guys' support! _

**Chapter 10: A New Quest  
**

------------------

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Assassin_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

_-------------------_

The light chirping sound of birds sounded through the slightly open window. Dante opened his red eyes and squinted at the sudden bright light from the sun's rays. He squinted for a while longer before he realized he was staring at a mass of blue hair.

"Ah!" He yelled loudly in surprise. Quickly he got up, but in the process Alice fell off the bed with a loud thud.

"Ow! What the hell!?" She shouted back. "I was actually sleeping we-."

"What are you doing in my bed!?" Dante immediately asked.

"See!? I knew you'd be like this if you were conscious!"

"Of course I would be! You're not exactly the first thing I want to the see in the morning!"

"What was that…?" Alice said with a glare.

Dante held his head. "N-Never mind!" He took a look at Alice and patted himself down. "Oh good we still have our clothes on."

Alice sat on the hardwood floors confused for a while before she widened her eyes. "Wh-What…yo-you just thought that we…d-d-did it?" When Dante didn't respond, Alice clenched her fists and stood up. "Like I'd do it with a pompous ass like you!"

"Glad we feel the same way, I'd never do it with some flat-chested temperamental clueless girl like you!" He got up off the bed and stood in front of Alice.

"Excuse me!? I had to drag your sorry ass all the way to your unit because someone couldn't control how much beer they drank!" She scoffed and turned around, her back towards him. "And you're the one that even told me to stay with you…" She muttered.

"Like I'd ever want you to stay with me." He scoffed. Dante walked over to his discarded bow and hold. When he bent down to pick them up, Alice stuck out her tongue at him. She knew he didn't see it, but she did it purely for the reason of making herself feel better.

* * *

"Hmph, am I boring you Dark?" Athena asked with an annoyed smirk.

"A little bit." He replied bluntly, mimicking her smirk. "I don't understand why we're simply not charging into a major battle right now. I'm sure all of the Aegis platoon leaders are ready for such a battle."

The silver haired elf sighed heavily and put down the scroll she was holding. "We must find allies Dark. The more the better, didn't you know that?"

"We've been trying for years! Only a few have joined us and the rest were already allied with Krylin!" When he saw Athena glare at him with her steely cold teal eyes, Dark let out a low growl and stood up.

"I'm going out for a bit."

"And where would that be?"

"Somewhere you shouldn't be concerned about."

"This is exactly what I mean…"

Dark stopped before he could open up the huge oak wood doors. Athena saw this and walked over to him quietly. Her soft silver flowing hair gracefully hung over her small shoulders as she stood behind him. "You were always this stubborn and quick to judge every situation."

"So what…?"

"Haven't you realized by now that it is why you failed to protect your city?"

"Kerning City was bound to become a cell for Krylin eventually."

"You gave up."

The thief whipped around and shouted. "The hell I gave up!" His voice rose with his anger. "Don't tell me that bullshit!"

"It's the truth!" Athena shouted back, slamming her hands against the door behind Dark. Her breath was ragged as she spoke once more. "The problem with you is that you do not learn from your mistakes! You continue making the same problems and you think you have come up with the solution, but you don't! You never do Dark!" The elf bowed her head. "I…wish this war was over. I really do…but in order for it to be over without unnecessary lives being lost, we must keep trying." She looked up at him with a hardened gaze. "We have to."

The thief looked away and finally let out a wry chuckle. He gently took her wrists that were on either side of his head and cupped her two hands. Quietly he let them go and turned back to the door. The door clicked as he opened it and the oak doors groaned softly as they swung open. Athena clenched her two hands tightly and let out a huff in frustration.

"Where is she?"

"Huh?"

Dark turned around and faced the elf. He turned back and asked again, "Where is she? Kyrin? It's best that I go and try to convince the 'Pirate Queen' to ally with us before she's swayed to join Krylin."

Athena stood there silent for a while before she smiled at her realization of what Dark was telling her. "…She should be somewhere around Aqua Road." The elf replied in her gentle voice. She stood there watching Dark until he walked away. She gripped her hands tightly and whispered, "Don't give up…"

-----------------

"I'm sorry for reporting in so late." Dante gave a formal bow. Athena acknowledged him with a slight bow of her head.

"You don't have to apologize Dante. I suppose it was a hard quest?"

"It wasn't as hard as I thought it would have been."

"That's because Cedric was your partner, right? I knew you two would work well together. I'm sure your attacks are supportive and beneficial to each other. However…" She paused as she gave the sweetest of all smiles. "Please don't let Cedric's bad habits rub off on you, okay Dante?"

The black haired man nodded hurriedly. He wondered if she found out about what had happened to him last night. A pang of fear ran through his body when he saw her masked smile. "I suppose I'll be leaving now." He said, seeing as how he had reported everything that was needed to be known. Athena acknowledged him with a slight nod of her head.

Dante gave a small bow before leaving the room. He stopped at the huge oak doors and gave a glance back at Athena before leaving. Just as the doors shut behind him, he heard a chipper voice.

"Where are you going?"

He jumped slightly in surprise. When he saw that it was Alice, he put on an indifferent expression. "Wh-What are you doing here?" Dante stuttered, still slightly under shock.

Alice raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Why are you so surprised?" She leaned in closer to him.

"Anyone would be surprised if you just suddenly popped out of nowhere!" He retorted, turning away from her and walking. Alice followed him and replied.

"Only people that are up to no good are those that get surprised. Dante…are you up to no good?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" He mumbled. Irritated, he turned around sharply. Alice bumped into his chest in the process.

"Why'd you st-."

"How long do are you planning to follow me around?"

"As long as it takes." Alice stubbornly replied.

"As long as it takes until what!?"

"Until you tell me what happened yesterday!"

"I got drunk. What else is there to say!?"

"Not that! What happened on your quest!?"

With a low growl, Dante turned back around and walked out of the council building. He heard Alice follow behind him once more. His red eyes darted around the various crowds of townspeople as he walked through the marketplace. In his mind he wondered if he could try and lose Alice by slipping in and out of the masses of people.

'_But then I'd be getting a whole lot of grief from her later.' _He thought heavily.

"Uwah!" Alice cried out. Dante swiftly turned around, thinking she had gotten into trouble. He relaxed when he saw that she had only exclaimed in surprise.

"Jeez…Alice! What are you doing?" He walked over to her.

"Dante! Look!" Happily, she showed him a small black and white puppy. "This man's selling pets here!" She pointed to the merchant and his wooden stall. "Isn't he cute!?" Alice asked, holding the puppy up for Dante to see.

"Not really." He mumbled, turning away.

Alice pouted. "You know it's cute. You just won't admit it." She cuddled the puppy tightly, but the small dog barked and snapped at her in protest. At this, Dante let out a soft snicker. The blue haired warrior glared at him and back down at the puppy. "He just needs to get used to me is all." As if it understood her words, the puppy growled lowly.

"How much is he?" Alice asked the merchant.

"Oi, you're actually going to buy him?" Dante asked incredulously. The girl ignored him and she paid the merchant a small bag of mesos. She walked away from the stall and Dante followed.

"Why did you even buy that thing? It's obvious it hates you."

"It'll warm up to me." Alice giggled as she held the growling puppy up in the air.

The archer scoffed lightly. "Do you really think it'll warm up to you?"

"You did, didn't you?" She asked with a smile.

Taken aback by her statement, Dante widened his eyes in surprise slightly. "Wh-What the hell are you talking abo-."

"I got it! I'll name you Dante!" Alice giggled as she hugged the puppy close to her. It growled lowly again as it narrowed its cool blue eyes in discomfort.

"Why are you naming it after me!?"

"Because you two are alike." The blue haired girl bluntly replied. She laughed when she saw Dante's disgruntled expression. "You should be honored!"

"For what? Sharing a name with a dog?"

"Of course!" Alice giggled as she lifted the puppy high up in the air again.

'_Is she being sarcastic…?' _Dante asked himself. He trudged along behind her. _'Why am I following her now?' _He thought to himself when he realized what he was doing.

As if reading his mind, Alice turned around and asked him,"Oh yeah…why are you following me now?"

'_Crap…' _The archer thought. "I'm just making sure you won't get into trouble." Dante responded coolly, hoping that she would believe him.

"Trouble?" She questioned.

"Yes." He sternly replied. "Do you know how much of a pain it would be if I lost a partner? I'd have to be stuck with a new one." Dante saw her staring at him curiously and he turned away, flustered. "Anyways…why aren't you questioning me anymore?"

"Eh? Oh that." Alice smiled. "I thought I should let you tell me when you feel like it. If I have to question you and hound you for the answer, I think it'll be bad for you. I'm sure it's a subject on which Dante doesn't like to discuss, right?"

Dante stared at her for a while, shocked that she gave such a mature answer. He simply nodded in response.

"Oh!" The warrior suddenly exclaimed. She looked down at the puppy that was in her arms and found that it had fallen asleep. Her mouth turned up into a gentle smile. "It fell asleep." She told Dante, who had walked up to her. Alice giggled and looked up at the archer. "It's cute when it's sleeping, just like you."

"What…?" Dante asked in an irritated tone.

Alice grinned. "Nothing."

* * *

"Mmm, I wonder when Krylin will let us go fight again…" Si Hua stopped touching the two pink flowers on her head. "What do you think Ivan?"

"She'll let us go fight again eventually."

The brown haired girl grinned and went over to Ivan's side. She knelt down beside him. "You're thinking about Dante aren't you?"

"What?"

"What else could you be thinking about so deeply all the time?"

"I can assure you it's not that Aegis weakling." The pirate snapped. He placed a hand on the wall behind him and got himself up from his seat on the floor. Si Hua stopped him when he was about to walk away.

"Where are you going?" She whined. Ignoring her, Ivan continued to walk. All the poor girl did was cry as she held onto the blonde's wrist. "Ivaaaan!" She cried out. Her feet dragged across the floor loudly as she attempted to try and stop him. However, her attempts were useless.

"_Ivan, Si Hua."_

They both stopped when they heard Krylin's voice inside their heads.

"_I have a job for you two…"_

Their eyes closed slowly. Si Hua let go of Ivan's wrist and stood up straight behind him. They stood there in place, almost as if they were in a trance. After a while, they reopened their eyes.

"_You two both understand the job entrusted to you right?"_

"Yes." They responded.

"_Wonderful…Do not fail me." _

---------------

"Isn't this a bit cruel?"

"What is?"

"Athena…sending us out on another quest."

Both Alice and Dante were assigned to a recruitment quest. Athena had ordered them to travel to El Nath in order to gain an alliance with Nackt, the Queen of Ice. Easy as it had sounded, Alice wasn't too keen on traveling back to the chilly snow covered area once again.

"It's not like you had anything better to do today." Dante told her.

"I wanted to play with Dante today!" She retorted. "I just hope Sean will take good care of him while I'm gone."

"Damn it! Name the dog something else!" He shouted.

"I can't! It already knows that its name is Dante!"

The archer gave a disgruntled mumble of incoherent words as he marched on forward. The road between Henesys and Ellinea grew more and more dense with trees that seemed to grow higher with each step they took.

"Why can't we take another scroll to Ellinea again?" Alice asked.

"Because I don't have anymore."

"You should have bought some more scrolls or something…"

"Quit complaining." He snapped. The blue haired girl let out a soft 'hmph' and crossed her arms over her chest. "Asshole…"

As they walked on, Alice heard soft hoots from a nearby owl. She looked up at the sky and saw that the setting sun had painted its brilliant colors overhead. It was getting late. Alice wondered if Dante would stop for the night anywhere. "Are we going to stop anytime soon?"

"We haven't even reached the outskirts of Ellinea yet." He replied. "You could sleep on the boat ride if you want."

Alice pursed her lips in discomfort as they continued walking. The thought of walking through the darkness of the forest brought chills down her spine. It was different if they had stopped for the night. At least the comforting warmth and light of a small campfire brought down her fears of the dark. But she knew if she told Dante of this fact, he'd simply laugh at her and it would give him something for him to taunt her about.

By the time they saw the first signs of Ellinea, nightfall had already fallen and amidst the high trees of the Ellinea forest, all light was blocked out. Only small amounts of the moonlight filtered through the thick canopies. Alice hunched her shoulders and hugged herself tightly. She'd jump every time she heard a noise or if a bug buzzed past her ear.

"D-Dante?" She asked into the darkness. She wished he didn't wear a black coat or have black hair just so that she could see him right then.

"What?"

"Where a-ar-are you?" Alice stuttered as if she were cold.

"Where else would I be, you idiot."

"Well sorry for asking! It's just that I know you could leave me by myself!"

Suddenly, she walked into him. Her nose made contact with the hard metal of his bow roughly. At this, Alice let out a yelp and held her nose tenderly. "Why did you stop so sudden-!"

"Here."

Alice felt him grab her hand. "Eh?" She looked up in confusion at Dante and saw his dark red eyes looking down at her.

"So that you won't get lost."

"I-I won't!" She tried to let go, but he held on tightly.

"Of course you will! I know how much you love to daydream."

"I-I don't daydream!" Alice retorted, a blush rushed up to her cheeks. She heard him scoff.

"Just take my hand, I don't see what the big deal is."

Unable to talk back to him after that, Alice took his hand and quietly followed him through the trees of the Ellinea forest.

"You're not scared anymore right?"

"H-Huh?" She asked, surprised by his question. "I was never scared."

"Don't lie. Of course you were scared." Dante grabbed her hand tighter, not so much that it would be uncomfortable. "We'll get there soon." He whispered in a softer tone.

Alice nodded even though she knew that he didn't see her. She bowed her head and smiled slightly. "Okay." She replied as she took his hand with more confidence.

-----------------

'_A human weapon! We've done it!'_

'_The perfect little soldier…'_

'_No emotions stopping its actions…how useful…'_

'_That thing's nothing but a tool for us to use!'_

"Ivan…?"

"Huh?"

The blond pirate stopped amidst the snowy banks and looked at Si Hua. Her face was written over with concern. "Are you alright? You've been so quiet for a while."

A harsh wind blew against them. Ivan narrowed his eyes and turned away. "Don't concern yourself with these sorts of things. It was nothing." He simply replied back. "…We should get going towards the Ice Palace." In a blur, he vanished from where he once stood. Si Hua looked down at the snow covered ground and clenched her fists. She let out a soft sigh before she herself vanished as well.

-------------------

Dante heard a low foghorn bellow from above deck. He sat inside the cabin silently with Alice beside him, already fast asleep. There were only a few people in the cabin with them. After nightfall, not many took the long trip to Ossyria because they feared night raids by the Crimson Barlogs.

The archer touched his bow still clipped onto his back. He needed to make sure that he was ready for a raid any second.

"…Aren't you tired?"

Dante looked down and saw Alice looking back at him with drowsy eyes. He shook his head. "I'm fine."

"I see." She yawned. With a smile, she closed her eyes and whispered, "You should rest for once."

"I do."

"I mean completely. You always have your guard up."

"No I don't." He retorted.

Alice giggled softly and sighed. "Whatever you say."

He remained silent until he heard her light, steady breathing once more. Dante looked around at the other passengers. They were all fast asleep, all deep in their dreams without any worries. He tilted his head back and looked up at the wooden ceiling. The floor boards above and below them creaked as the ship continued its voyage. Dante continued to stare up at the ceiling until he felt his eyelids starting to droop from sleep. Even though he knew he had to stay up for the sake of protecting the ship from a possible Barlog raid, he couldn't help but take Alice's words to heart.

Perhaps he did leave his guard up for too long. Dante leant back against the wall and relaxed. His shoulders loosened up and his red eyes no longer strained to look up. He simply closed them softly and let sleep overcome his mind.

--------------

**A/N **_Please leave a review!_


	11. For the Sake of Peace

**A/N **_Thank you for waiting! I'm sorry if this chapter seems rushed at all. Honestly, I had trouble writing the action scene. I guess I will need to work on it a little bit more. Anyways, the next chapter will be out in the next two weeks. Sorry if that's a long delay but I recently got hooked onto an RPG game and I'm hooked on Code Geass as well. On top of that, I'm planning to write an original story and so things will be a little slow, as if they weren't already. _

**Chapter 11: For the Sake of Peace**

------------------

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Assassin_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

_-------------------_

_Creak. Creak._

The ship groaned loudly once more before Dante woke up. He blinked tiredly and held the back of his head. It ached from him leaning against the walls of the cabin for the whole night.

"Oi Alice…did we arrive at Orbis yet?" He asked, tilting his head back against the walls and shutting his eyes once more. When he didn't hear a response, he lifted his left hand and placed it just a few inches away from his side. Expecting to pat her he let his hand down softly but, instead of her body his hand met the cold hardwood floors. Instantly, he opened up his eyes and looked beside him. When he didn't see Alice, he grew alarmed.

"Alice? Alice!?" He shouted across the cabin. Dante soon realized that none of the other passengers were around as well. He stood up and felt lighter than he expected. The familiar weight of his bow on his back was gone as well. Confused about the situation, he ran towards the door leading out of the cabin. His hand met the cold steel of the handle as he tried to twist it open.

"_It's impossible." _

With a sharp gasp, he whipped around. He backed up against the door when he saw Krylin walking out from the shadows of the cabin. "What do you want?" Dante asked.

Krylin simply smiled and replied, "You can't escape the fate I've set for you Dante."

"You never set anything!"

"That's where you're wrong."

Dante blinked and trembled when he saw that she had disappeared. He shook his head and reminded himself to not lose his mind. Her light chuckles echoed throughout the dark cabin. Dante clenched his fists tightly and tried to drown out her laughter. He felt the door he was leaning against, disappear.

"You're the one that's in denial Dante…"

He froze when he felt her hands touch his shoulders. "What do you want from me?"

Krylin laughed lightly once more. She traced small circles into the back of his shoulders with the tip of her index finger. Her head rested on his back as she spoke. "Your power …I wish to make you into my own little soldier."

Dante scoffed. "There must be something else that you want. There are plenty of other stronger people than me."

She chuckled again. "I want you…because you are as weak as you are strong. Losing both your parents…must have been a difficult event to overcome, am I right?" She smirked when she felt him stiffen. "Mentally…you are weak."

"Shut up."

"Weakened by the tragic events in your life."

"Shut up…"

"I can help you forget all about those things Dante. I can help you forget all of those terrible events. I'll make sure that nothing terrible will ever happen to you again. I will only give you happiness Dante." She leant up right next to his ear. "Just accept your fate…"

Dante clenched his teeth and whipped around violently. "Shut up!" He shouted. To his surprise, she was gone.

'_Was it an illusion…?'_

He let out a ragged sigh and held his head. A wry chuckle passed his lips as he smiled lightly. "I'm losing it."

"_I'm scared."_

Dante widened his eyes, alert once more. "Who's there?" He asked, raising his head. He saw that he was no longer inside the cabin of the ship. Instead, he was in a vast wasteland with nothing but pure inky darkness.

"_I'm scared…"_ A frightened voice said in a trembling voice. Dante looked around and finally saw a soft blue light hovering towards him. It flitted around uneasily before it stopped in front of him. He reached out a hand to touch it, mystified by the soft glow. It made him feel content and suddenly he forgot all about his encounter with Krylin.

The ball of blue light glowed brightly. Finally it expanded and disappeared in a brilliant flash of light. Dante narrowed his eyes slightly at the light, but what encountered him next was unexpected. Just as the light faded away, the archer stared in amazement when he saw Alice. Her whole body was glowing with the same blue light and she hovered just slightly, her feet barely touching the ground. She seemed heavenly to him at the time.

"What are you doing here, idiot?" He asked smugly, although he was secretly relieved that he finally found her. Dante expected her to return with one of her snappy comebacks, but instead she giggled. It sounded melodious in his ears.

Alice gave a warm smile. "Something's troubling you."

"What?"

"What is troubling you Dante?"

"Nothing is."

"Liar." She said, her voice suddenly filled with sorrow. "I wish you would tell me everything. Maybe then…"

Dante heard her cry softly. Her tears rolled down her smooth cheeks and dripped down slowly. It created ripples on the ground below. The archer stepped closer to her. "Oi…d-don't get all sad all of a sudden."

"I'm scared." She whispered tearfully. Dante widened his eyes when he realized her voice sounded the same as the voice he had heard earlier. "I'm scared Dante…"

"Idiot…why are you scared." He stepped closer to her and raised his hand.

"Be-Because…Dante's going to leave."

"Leave? I don't plan on leaving Alice…" He was just a few inches away from touching her cheek. His hand touched her softly glowing cheek and he gently trailed it down. Suddenly, his eyes widened in horror when he saw fresh red blood being smeared by his hand onto her skin.

Her tears turned a deep red and continued to flow out her eyes. "I don't want you to leave us Dante. Please don't leave."

"I…won't…"

-------------------

"…nte? Dante?"

The archer snapped open his eyes let out a loud gasp as if he was struggling to breathe. He sat up quickly and held his chest.

"Dante!?"

Catching his breath, he saw Alice looking at him with worry in her eyes. He saw that she wasn't aglow with light and her face was clean with no sign of it being dirtied by blood. Dante stared at her for a while before he whispered, "So it was just a dream…"

"Huh?" Alice asked. When he didn't respond, she quickly told him of the situation, hoping that it will get him back to his senses. "You wouldn't wake up when we were in the cabin so I brought you to the potion shop because I thought the healer fairies could find out what was wrong with you."

"I was sleeping…couldn't you tell?" He muttered.

"…You weren't breathing." Alice replied. "I thought…you died." She bowed her head down. Carefully, she took both of Dante's hands in hers. "Don't scare me like that…"

"I wasn't trying to." He replied with a slight scoff. When he was about to take his hands out of her grasp, he stopped at the sound of her crying. At first it was a slight sniffle before it grew to a series of hiccups and a cascade of tears. "Hey…quit crying. I'm still alive, see?"

Alice hiccupped a few more times before she responded. "St-Stupid, I'm not crying because o-of that! I'm cr-crying be-be-because…"

"Because of what?"

She raised her head and glared at him with tears still pooling in her sapphire colored eyes. "Do you know how hard it'll be to find a new partner to work with!?" Alice yelled at him. "You'd be making my life difficult even after you're gone!"

Dante stared at her in surprise before letting out a little laugh himself. "Idiot." He raised his hand and rubbed the top of her head.

"D-Don't laugh!" She shouted as she gave him a hit on his head.

"Ow!"

* * *

"What's the matter Grendel?" Athena watched as the old wizard shook his head and gave a tired sigh. Whenever he did such actions, she knew it meant that he had sensed a disturbance.

"I sensed…darkness."

"Krylin?"

"…Yes." He lowered his head and continued to read off the scroll unrolled out in front of him. His hat tipped over so much that it covered his eyes. "She is trying to find another victim…possibly one of us."

Athena listened intently. "Should we conduct an investigation?"

"No." Grendel immediately replied. "We mustn't. Krylin will realize we are on to her."

"Are you suggesting that we sacrifice the victim?"

"…For the sake of peace." He replied quietly.

She looked out the stained glass windows and narrowed her eyes. The whole idea of sacrificing their own troubled her.

"Athena…I know it seems cruel."

"Huh?"

"You don't seem to be warming up to the idea." Grendel said. "But sacrificing one life for the lives of many others is a choice that must be made."

The silvery haired elf clenched her fists as she got up from her seat. "Please excuse me." She walked away from the wooden long table and exited the room. Her long flowing robes swept across the floor as she walked down the hallway. Finally, she stopped for a moment and looked outside. The window overlooked a small playground. She watched as children laughed as they hung from the bars or giggled as they chased each other around. Her delicate hand touched the glass. "Peace...?" She whispered. "Is this the only way to reach it…?"

* * *

"How much longer?" Alice whined.

"Stop complaining. Just be glad that it's not as cold as it was last time we came here."

The warrior quietly shuffled through the thick snow piled ground. Her heavy boots sunk into freshly laid snow each time she took a step. The path soon became narrower as they walked on. Pretty soon, tall evergreens surrounded them on each side.

"Stay close, Hectors and Pangs are known to live in this area." Dante said.

"Okay." Alice replied, speeding up slightly just so that she could be right behind him. She opened her mouth to ask how much longer it would take until they were at the palace but, she was stopped by a rustling sound in a nearby bush. Dante noticed this and turned around. When he too saw the bush moving, he unclipped his bow from his back. Right when he was about to aim, a white snow bunny popped out from the bushes.

Dante let out a sigh of relief. "Thank the Goddesses it wasn't anything else. Come on Ali-."

"Such a cute bunny!" She exclaimed. The warrior immediately scooped the small creature up in her arms and giggled.

"Oi, don't touch that thing. What if it has a disease or something?"

"How can it have a disease when it's this cute?" Alice asked, giggling again when its ears twitched.

"Just put it down and let's go! You already have a dog back home."

"Are you jealous that I have a pet and you don't?"

"What!? Why would I be jealous for a ridiculous reason like that?"

Alice shrugged carelessly. "Say what you want. But you know you're jealous." Suddenly, the bunny perked up and it's ears shot straight up. Its nose twitched a few times before it hopped out of her arms. It ran away into the heavy shrubbery of the evergreen forest.

"Why did it-?"

"Shh!" Dante immediately shushed her as he drew back his bow. He held it down as his red eyes scanned the trees. The intense silence brought chills throughout Alice's body. She trembled as she took her polearm out from its hold. As soon as she did so, a loud bang filled the air. She quickly dodged to some direction and cowered. The loud noise rattled her nerves badly.

"Idiot! Run away!" Alice looked towards Dante, who was a few feet ahead of her. His back was pressed up against the trunk of a tree and his bow was ready to be firing off arrows. She stood up and ran towards him, but she heard another loud bang. The warrior shivered and fell to the ground. Vaguely, she heard Dante yelling at her to get back up and run, but she ignored him and continued to lay there covering her head.

Beside her, she heard the snow crunch. Alice peeked over and saw that it was the blond pirate that had attacked them before. She grabbed her polearm again and tried to get up.

"You don't like loud noises?" He asked, raising his gun. He shot once more, making sure the bullet pierced the ground beside her. She let out a cry and held both her hands over her ears.

"Alice!" Dante yelled. He raised his bow and arrow and narrowed his gaze at the pirate. Just as he was about to let go, A steely whizzed past his head and pinned one of his arms against a tree. He saw that the steely pierced the sleeves of his coat and not his arm. "Shit…" He raised an arm to pull the steely out, but another one was thrown and it pinned his other arm to the tree as well.

The pink clad assassin he saw before stepped out from the shadows. She giggled and pulled out another set of steelies. "Don't worry about her Dante! All you need to do is worry about me!" She let out another set of giggles just as she threw her steelies.

Dante pulled his arms down and heard the fabric of his sleeves rip. In the nick of time, he dodged the projectiles and managed to grab his bow. In an instant, he shot three golden arrows consecutively at her. Si Hua laughed and disappeared into the shadows. "Try to catch me!"

The archer glanced over at Alice and saw the pirate towering over her. He aimed his bow at him.

"Am I boring?"

Quickly, Dante stepped away and saw it was the assassin again. The girl giggled again and took out a few steelies. "I'm sorry, did I scare you?" She threw them swiftly. Dante disappeared in a blur and reappeared in the high branches of a tree. He calmed his breathing and strung a glowing arrow on his bow. Quietly he drew it back and narrowed his eyes at her. Just as he let go, he saw her disappear.

"What?" He gasped in surprise.

"I don't think you know my name yet, right?"

Dante whipped around and in the nick of time he dodged a stab from one of her steelies. It dug into the thick branches of the tree as she looked up and saw him just a few branches away. She giggled again and disappeared.

"My name's Si Hua if you didn't already know."

The archer darted his eyes around the treetops and the forest floor. All he saw was the leafy green of the pine trees and the frosty white snow on the ground. He clenched his teeth tightly.

'_Why can't I sense neither of their mana?' _

Sudden sound alerted Dante. In the nick of time, he did an agile backflip off the tree to avoid the two steelies thrown at him. He landed on the snow covered ground and looked up. Si Hua stood on the branch, giggling down at him.

"Sharp hearing you have there!" She instantly pulled out two more steelies and threw them down. Dante narrowed his eyes and swung his bow to deflect them. Instantly, he pulled his bow back and shot two golden arrows. She gasped, taken aback at how quickly he managed to block her attacks and attack as well.

Si Hua let out a sharp cry as she was pinned onto the tree by her wrists. She trembled when she saw how much blood she was losing. When she tried to free herself, Dante shouted up at her. "You'll lose more blood if you keep moving."

"You bastard!" She shouted.

"Hm, you attitude seems to change when you're the one in a pinch."

"Hmph, you think I'm the one in a pinch? For all I know, Ivan probably killed Alice already!"

-------------------

Alice pressed her back up against the bark of a tree. She glanced over to where she thought Dante was, only to find him gone. Knowing she was on her own now, she reached for her polearm with a trembling hand.

"It's useless." Ivan stared down at her, his one green eye giving her a piercing gaze. "Krylin told us if we kill you, her job would be much easier."

"O-Oh? Is that so?" Alice replied, trying to put on a brave front. She managed a small smirk. "Is she still trying to take Dante away from the Aegis?"

The blond pirate chuckled lowly. "She already has him in the palm of her hands."

"Eh?"

Suddenly, she felt Ivan grab her by her blue locks. Alice felt sharp pain on the back of her head as her hair was being tugged. He lifted her up so that she was standing in front of him. She cried out sharply trying to free herself from his grasp. "Let me go!" Alice froze at the feeling of the cold barrel of the pirate's gun pressed up against her head.

"Hm, your purpose has been served for Krylin." The gun clicked. "Any last words?"

Alice clenched her fists and lowered her head. "You monster…" She whispered. Glaring up at him with her aqua blue eyes, she yelled. "Monster!"

"_New weapon? No…we've done nothing but create a monster." _

"You…" Ivan said lowly. His hand trembled as he tightened his grip on the gun. "You're just like _her_! That bitch!" He threw her done and pointed his gun at her. The pirate's one green eye glared at her with pure malice and anger. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Ivan felt his feet fall out from underneath him. His back met the freshly laid snow and immediately he felt a stinging cold on his neck.

Alice had him pinned down. A foot was placed on his abdomen and her polearm was jabbed into the ground, trapping Ivan by the neck. "You let down your guard." She panted. Her teeth tightly clenched, she made a move to cut through his throat.

"Stop!"

She widened her eyes in surprise at the feeling of a sharp knife being pressed onto her neck. Alice looked back slightly and saw the assassin girl in her peripheral vision.

"I'll kill you…if you hurt him." Her voice was trembling. The warrior felt warm blood being dripped onto her shoulder.

"You're injured." Alice stated. "It'd be wise to leave me alone at this point if you value your life."

Si Hua pressed the edge of her steely harder onto Alice's skin. Blood started to leak from her neck. The warrior looked down at Ivan and then back at Si Hua. Much to her surprise, the assassin had tears pooling in her purple eyes.

"Please don't harm him anymore."

"You…" Alice whispered in disbelief.

"If he dies…if he dies…" She hiccupped. The hand that held the steely trembled. "If he dies…I can't-." Her sentence was cut short when suddenly her eyes widened. Abruptly, she fell the ground unconscious.

Alice turned around and saw Dante behind her. He panted and made a motion to wipe off some dried blood on his face, even though they remained. "I caught up..."

The warrior stared down at the assassin and asked, "I-Is she…?"

"No." Dante replied quickly. "I only knocked her out unconscious."

"We will leave…"

"Huh?" Alice turned her head back to Ivan and saw him staring back at her. "Leave?"

"We will concede defeat for now."

"What? You're asking us to let you go!?"

"Alice…" The archer whispered. "Let them go."

"But-." When she turned and saw his downed expression, she knew that continuing the fight wouldn't be the best for any of them. "Fine." With a strong pull, she pulled out her polearm from the ground. Ivan stood up and walked over to Si Hua. He turned her over and gently brought her up onto his back. In a flash, he disappeared along with her.

Alice let down her guard finally and sighed. Before she could plop down on the snow, she heard Dante did so first. She turned around, expecting him to sitting but instead found him to be lying down in pain. "Dante!?" She asked in a panic. Quickly she knelt down beside him. "What's wrong!?"

He remained cringing in pain in silence. Finally he began to let out gasps and pained cries. "I-It…hurts…" He managed to gasp out. Alice hurriedly took out a white potion bottle from her small thigh pack and brought Dante's head onto her lap. She popped the cork off and urged the archer to drink some of it.

"You must have gotten hurt when you were fighting her!" Alice managed to get some of the potion into Dante's mouth, but he coughed it back out onto the ground. "Hey! You're supposed to drink it!"

"I…feel…worse…" Dante whispered back.

"How can you!?" She continued to try and feed him more of the potion, but it either simply leaked out from the corners of his mouth or he spat it away. "St-Stop doing that!" Alice grew nervous with each passing second. "Stupid! The potion…the potion will help you."

Then suddenly, Dante grew silent and his body still. Alice feared that he had fallen unconscious or worse but she saw that he was still breathing. His brow was covered in a thin sheet of sweat and his black bangs clung to the skin around his face. His dark red eyes grew relaxed.

"Dante?...Are you okay now?" Alice asked with hesitance. When she saw the man give her a slight nod, she sighed in relief. "Thank goodness." Her expression grew serious when she asked him, "Is this the same thing that happened to you on the boat ride here?"

Dante shook his head 'no.' "I had a nightmare on that boat. What I experienced right now was just pain."

"Where?"

The archer quietly placed his hand over his chest. "I thought my chest was going to explode." He chuckled wryly. "I must have eaten something bad I guess."

"Stupid…then its your stomach that would hurt." Alice laughed uneasily. She froze when she felt a tear slip out from her eye. Before it could roll halfway down her cheek, Dante raised his hands and wiped it away with his thumb.

"Didn't you cry enough over me back in Orbis?"

Looking at him with her blue eyes, Alice saw a small smile painted upon his face. She couldn't help but smile as well. "Who said I'm crying? I wouldn't shed a tear for a bastard like you." Alice replied, wiping away the last of the tears pooled in her eyes.

Dante reached around behind her head and unclipped her hair pin. Her messy bun was released and her long blue hair fell down to the curve of her back. She felt heat rush up her neck at this action. "What was that for…?"

"You don't want to show up looking like a mess in front of the Ice Queen, do you? Besides," The black haired man ran his fingers through her hair once, combing it out. "You look…better."

Alice pouted in annoyance and in embarrassment. "What about you?" She asked, pointing out the spots of dried blood on his face and clothes. "You're more of a mess than me."

"Is this any time to be criticizing your superior?" Dante asked with a playful smirk.

A soft giggle passed her lips. "I'm not criticizing you, I'm telling the truth."

-------------------

**A/N**_ Q&A_

**World Domination lol** - _It's "Krylin". And yes, I realized at around chapter 5 that the Pirate job instructor has a similar name. But, to change the name of "Krylin" at this point in the story is useless and will only bring confusion. And no, they are NOT the same person. Krylin is my fictional antagonist and Kyrin the Pirate will be joining up with the rest of the job instructors in the story very soon. _


	12. Her Heart of Ice

**A/N **_I'm sorry for the very late update. I pretty much had writer's block for this chapter and it was pretty tough to get around. No new characters this chapter, but I hope that my writer's block didn't make this chapter too "un-understandable". I may go back and edit some parts later since this chapter was written over a period of 2-3 weeks. _

**Chapter 12: Her Heart of Ice**

**

* * *

**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Assassin_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

_

* * *

  
_

"Are you okay?"

"Quit asking that every single minute."

Alice glared at him and let go of the arm he had around her shoulders. At the sudden movement, Dante lost his balance and fell backwards onto the snow covered ground.

"Hey! Is that any way to care for someone who's injured?"

"I bet you're not even in pain right now."

Dante narrowed his dark red eyes at her in irritation. He knew that what she said was true; he just didn't want to admit it in front of her. However, he found it odd that the pain that he felt earlier had gone away as quickly as it came.

'_If I hadn't stopped the fight that was bound to happen between Alice and Ivan, I'm pretty sure it we would have been caught in a dangerous situation…' _He thought to himself while clutching his chest.

"What are you thinking about so deeply?"

The archer snapped back to reality and glared when he saw Alice's face not too far from his. He pushed her down by her forehead. "Don't get so close to me." Dante muttered as he coolly got up and brushed off the snow from his clothes.

"You didn't have to shove me down!" Alice yelled, getting up. She didn't bother to remove the flakes of snow stuck to her blue tendrils. Once Dante turned his back towards her, Alice blew a raspberry at him.

"Did you say something?" The archer asked, fully aware of what Alice did behind him.

"Hmph, nothing." She sourly replied.

* * *

Feeling a warm gentle heat on her face, Si Hua fluttered her eyelids slightly and awoke. She saw a glowing fire in front of her. Its flames gently danced with the wind and blew embers onto the snow covered ground beside it. Still in a slight daze, she attempted to stand up when a dull pain ached at the back of her head and on her wrists. Si Hua looked down at her hands and found that they were bandaged cleanly.

"Does it still hurt?"

She turned her head and saw Ivan walking towards the fire. In his arms were several branches, thick or narrow.

"I-I'm fine."

Ivan gave no response as he dumped the wood he had in his arms and took a seat on the thinly snow covered ground. As he tended to the fire, Si Hua watched him. Her hands twitched slightly before she asked him, "Ivan? Why did you do that to Alice?"

"Do what?"

"I don't know. You suddenly went…crazy."

"You saw that?" When he didn't hear a word from her, Ivan closed his eyes and bowed his head. "It's nothing. Forget about it."

Si Hua turned away from him. "I don't want to do this anymore…working for Krylin."

"You know we can't just walk away from her."

"All I do is kill people. People that she tells us to kill…"

"What's the matter with that?"

She drew in a harsh breath. "No…no…I don't want to do it anymore."

Ivan threw a branch into the fire. Its orange flames licked at the wood until it caught on fire. His emerald eye seemed to gleam with the light from the fire. "Didn't she rescue you? You were nothing but a talentless child with no home or family. And yet, she decided to take you under her care. Even me…"

"Did Krylin pity us?"

"She accepted us, even when no one else did. That's all I'm thankful for."

The fire crackled and the wood popped as it grew hotter. A sheer cold wind blew over them, but the fire kept them fairly warm. Si Hua glanced at him and raised her hands up to look at them. "Thank you…" She whispered. All she saw him do was lower his head slightly in acknowledgment of her words.

* * *

_Crunch. Crunch._

The repetitious sound of their footsteps was the only sound Alice could hear. "Are we there yet?" She asked for the fourteenth time.

"Of course not. The palace is in a remote, secluded region of El Nath. Obviously it'll be very far." Dante replied back.

The warrior let out a groaning sigh as she trudged on. They have been walking on and off icy paths for what seemed like hours. Sometimes the path was wide enough to fit 5 people shoulder to shoulder and sometimes the path grew dense and narrow so that only one person could squeeze through the thick shrubbery. Alice clenched her hairpin tightly and in frustration she kicked a bit of snow forward and watched it land just a few inches in front of her.

She didn't know how much longer they walked but, pretty soon the dense forest began to clear up and she could finally get a clear view of the skies. "Is that it?" Her voice was filled with awe and amazement at the sight of the huge palace. It glimmered and shined as the sunlight hit the peaks of the ice towers. A huge wall of ice went around the whole palace providing safety for the main castle grounds inside.

"How is this exactly secluded?" Alice asked.

"What do you mean? We walked for nearly two days to get here."

"I mean, if the palace is this huge…won't it stand out?"

"Look"

Alice looked over to where Dante pointed his finger. She looked around but all she saw was the palace. "What?"

"Behind the palace there are mountains. Those mountains are frozen with ice. Since the palace is made out of ice, it blends in perfectly. If you look at the palace from above, it'll just look like a chunk of ice next to the mountain." Dante made sure he spoke slowly so that Alice would understand. When the warrior had the look of realization on her face, he began to question the fact that she really did graduate from the academy at the top of the class.

"Then Nackt must be a very intelligent woman!"

"I don't know about that, but she's cunning. That's how she managed to stay out of this war so far."

They both made their way towards the palace. At the front gates, there were two guards. Both of them were lavishly dressed in silks and animal furs and each holding a long spear. Alice noted that they were both elves as she and Dante approached them.

"Who are you?" One of the guards immediately asked.

"We're with the Aegis. We want to speak with the Mistress regarding the current war."

"Mistress Nackt does not wish to speak to anyone about the war. Aegis or not. Please leave."

Alice stepped forward. "What are you saying? We came all this way to speak with her and you won't even let us through?"

"Alice…" Dante whispered through his teeth. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "We're sorry. We'll leave immediately."

Once they reached the surrounding forest again, the warrior impatiently shook off Dante's grip from her arm. "Why did you say that to them!? Are we really going to go back?"

"Of course not."

"Then what-." Alice noted Dante's silence as he kept looking back at the palace. Finally it clicked. "We-We're going to sneak in?"

"There's no way to sneak in. The walls are too high and the only entrance is through the front gates."

"I don't understand."

The archer simply smirked, leaving Alice with a confused look on her face.

* * *

_Why did he make me do this?_

Alice clutched Dante's black coat close to her body. She made sure the coat was draped over her head long enough to cover up blue hair. Her polearm had to be left with Dante, whom she knew was closely nearby. Alice sighed dejectedly and slowly made her way towards the front guards.

"Who goes there?" One of the guards asked.

"U-Uhm, I got lost in these mountains. Could you kind boys help me?" The warrior croaked out, trying to make her voice seem fragile and old. She hunched her back and awaited their answer.

"How did you get all the way out here?"

"A-Ah you…s-see…" Alice tried to search for the right words to say. For that instance, she straightened her back momentarily.

"Hey!"

The warrior jolted when one of the guards grabbed the jacket on her head. Her heart raced at the thought of being found out. In just mere seconds, they would unveil her and kill her right on the spot. Being unarmed spurred this notion of hers on even more. Right before the jacket was lifted off of her head, a high pitched whistling sound pierced the air.

One of the guards let out a yell of pain as he slumped down before her. Alice stepped back and saw two arrows embedded into his arm. Another series of whistling sounds pierced the air and the other guard grew alerted. He swung his spear in the nick of time and deflected three of Dante's arrows.

From behind her, Alice heard the sound of running. She turned around and saw Dante running towards them. Just a few feet from her, he stopped and quickly shot out two arrows.

The guard sidestepped out of the way and let the two whistling arrows fly past him. When he turned to face Dante again, the archer was already in front of him ready to swing his bow. Before the guard could dodge, the heavy bow swung onto his side. The elven guard groaned as he let go of his spear.

Dante went around behind him and wrapped an arm around the guard's neck. The elf made a choking sound and struggled before his body went limp. The archer set him down.

"Is he…"

"He's not dead." Dante answered. "Hurry. Get your polearm and come back here. We need to go in before other guards show up."

Alice nodded. As she left to retrieve her polearm, Dante bent down and unhooked a small ring holding one single silver key from the unconscious guard's waist.

"Dante." Alice said as she came back. She tightly gripped the hard metal of the polearm. "I'm ready."

"Good. Let's be quick." He turned to the huge ice gates and inserted the silver key into the keyhole. Much to Alice's surprise, the gates opened up and groaned loudly as if they were made out of metal. As soon as the gates opened up, Dante and Alice ran inside. They ran through what looked like a courtyard and continued running through the outer corridors of the palace.

"Do you know where Nackt is?" She asked.

"…We'll need to get inside first."

The warrior gave a disgruntled scoff. "So you're saying you don't know?"

"Like you do!"

"I'm not the Platoon Leader!" She retorted.

They both immediately stopped when a crowd of soldiers blocked their way. Alice whipped around when she heard the sound of heavy footsteps behind her as well. They were surrounded.

"Great…" Alice muttered. "If only you knew where we had to go, maybe we wouldn't be stuck in this situation."

Dante remained silent behind her. The blue haired warrior gripped her weapon tightly, expecting him to tell her to attack, but instead she heard him drop his bow. It made a loud clattering sound as it hit the white marbled floors.

"Dante!? What are you doing!?"

"Shut up. Put your weapon down."

"No! We have to fight them don't we?"

"Just do as I say." Dante whispered through his teeth.

Alice bit her bottom lip and dropped her polearm unwillingly. As soon as her polearm hit the ground, the Ice Palace soldiers ran up to them and quickly restrained their arms. The warrior cringed at the pain of the soldier's tight grip on her thin wrists.

Another harsh wind blew as they were led away. Even though Dante's coat kept her warm, Alice still shivered at the thought of what might happen to them now.

* * *

"Broke in?"

"Yes your highness."

"Hm..."

Alice made sure to keep her head down, even though she wanted no more than to catch a glimpse of Nackt. She took note that her voice seemed soft and delicate, but it still sounded it had power.

"What shall we do with them your highness?" One of the blue skinned elf guards asked. "Shall we execute them?"

The warrior held her breath. She trembled again at the thought of being tortured cruelly or being brought to death in the most painful way possible.

"Let them stand up." Nackt ordered.

Both Alice and Dante were quickly brought up to their feet. She continued to keep her head down as did Dante. Earlier, the soldiers harshly told them if they were even make eye contact with their queen they would be put to death immediately.

The sound of light footsteps reached Alice's ears. They stopped in front of her and the warrior found herself to be looking at the delicately jeweled shoes of the Ice Queen.

"Please raise your head."

"E-Eh?"

Alice felt cool fingertips lift her chin up. She gently raised her hand and laid her gaze upon Nackt. She had short black hair that was in a sort of bob and one long lock of her bangs came right over her right eye. Compared to her, Nackt was at least a head shorter than her. Even so, locking her gaze with the queen's deep purple eyes intimidated Alice.

"This won't do." She clicked her tongue silently. "We must get you cleaned up."

"Huh?"

Nackt moved away from her and signaled one of the guards. "Take her to one of the guest rooms and get some of the maids to clean her up."

Nearly all the guards, Alice, and even Dante looked at the Queen in disbelief. The warrior mustered up enough courage to ask, "B-But why? We've intruded into your palace and caused grief for your soldiers and-"

As if completely ignoring her, Nackt turned back to the same guard and commanded, "Give the man next to her a room as well. I'm sure she'd want him to be comfortable as well."

Unable to speak against her, the soldier bowed uneasily. "Y-Yes your highness."

* * *

_This is...a dream...right?_

Sitting stiffly upon the silky bed, Alice wondered why they were in fact rewarded rather than punished for breaking in. "Maybe she's crazy..." Alice muttered. "She did seem...a bit out of it." She recalled of her face to face meeting with Nackt earlier. The mage had a long, blue silk dress that flowed down to her feet and sleeves that were wide and billowy. Even on the dress there was gold colored embellishments and blue sapphires fastened on the silk. What was more, she had on a blue, oversized cone hat on her head. The tip of it sagged down and the whole hat seemed to look like it would swallow up her head. The warrior laughed lightly at the recollection. Indeed, she thought the Ice Queen was silly based on how she dressed.

A knock sounded at the door. Breaking away from her thoughts, Alice jumped and got off the bed quickly. The door opened up and two maids came in. They too were blue skinned elves but their skins were much lighter than those of the soldiers.

"Our highness wanted us to clean you up."

"E-Eh? N-No! That's not necessary! If you just show me where your baths are..."

"We don't plan on following you into the baths." One of the maids handed her a small basket filled with bottles of sweet smelling oils and tiny bars of colorful soaps. "Once you are done with your bath we will dress you up very nicely."

"B-But...why is Nac- I mean your highness doing this? We've broken into the palace and-"

"The bath is at the left end of the corridor. Please hurry."

Alice sighed heavily. She was starting to think they were purposely ignoring the question for the fact that they simply did not know the answer or the answer itself was just no justified. The warrior quietly walked out of her room and made her way down the corridor. The ice walls glistened as the light from the small pits of fire atop huge stone columns burned brightly. She wondered how it could be so warm within the palace when it was made out of ice.

When she got to the baths, she cautiously opened the door. Instantly a steamy cloud billowed out and blew past her. She stood in awe at the sight of the huge hot springs pool. Being caught in the harsh freezing climate of El Nath for the past week, Alice quickly shed her clothes, anxious to greet the hot water with her fatigued body. As she took off the last of her armor, she grabbed Dante's coat from the rack she draped it over.

_He was probably freezing without this._

The warrior carefully placed it back on the rack and told herself to go return it to him when she returns to her room. Happily, Alice went over the spring and splashed her hand around in the water. Just at the touch of the warm water, she shivered pleasantly and dipped herself into the water. Audibly she let out a sigh of relief. It felt like heaven to her.

The sound of the door to the springs opening echoed through the room. Alice jolted slightly and whipped around. When she saw that it was Dante, she widened her blue eyes. "Wh-What are you doing in here!?"

Surprised himself, Dante immediately turned away. "Quit yelling! I only came in here because the maids told me to get cleaned up!"

"You damn pervert!"

"What!? I would never follow you in here on purpose!"

"Get out!"

"Even if I do, where do you propose I go!?"

"Anywhere but here!"

"You're being ridiculous. It's not like I'd want to do anything to you!"

In the end, they complied to bathing with their backs turned to each other.

"Y-You better not look!" Alice shouted, her face red from the heat as well as the embarrassment.

"Heh," Dante scoffed. "You don't need to worry about that at all. I wouldn't want to look at your body anyways."

"S-So I see..." The blue haired girl said through her teeth. _'I'll kill him...I'll definitely kill him...!'_

"After all, you swing around such a heavy weapon all the time. I'd imagine your arms are bulky and muscular." Dante added on. Alice found herself to be squeezing the little sponge in her hand rather tightly. With a little short sigh, she told herself it was nothing to get worked up about. She decided to disregard his insults as petty and childish. With a smug grin, she took one of the colorful soaps from the basket sitting on the edge of the hot spring pool. Lathering it up, Alice rubbed the soapy suds on her hands, arms, and neck. As she was doing this, she stopped and ran her hands over both her arms slowly.

_'Maybe...he's right. I'm not the least bit girly...'_

Suddenly feeling self conscious, Alice took her long blue hair and rung it out free of water. "I-I'm leaving." She didn't even make sure that Dante was turned away. But, she was sure that he wouldn't have been turned around in the first place. Quickly she dried herself off with a towel and dressed herself. She stood there for a while, lingering at the door, waiting for him to say anything. An apology...? Anything...?

"Well then..." Alice opened the door and exited the steamy bath house.

Once Dante heard the door close behind him. He turned around and let out a sigh. A look of melancholy passed his face as he muttered softly, "You're always like this..."

* * *

_'Since I've been here, everything's been very confusing.'_

Alice played with a loose string hanging from her blue silk dress. When she came back into the room earlier, the maids immediately began to undress her of her light armor and tunic in place of a beautiful silky dress. All the while, she continued to question why she was being treated as if she were a guest of honor. Neither of the maids responded. And so, in the end she meekly sat there in silence as they combed out her blue hair and fixed glass ornaments into it. After they were done, she questioned them again only to receive no answer once more. Instead, they told her Nackt will meet with both her and Dante shortly in the Queen's study.

"I don't see why they couldn't have just answered my question." She mumbled, fiddling with the silky dark blue sash that was wrapped around her waist.

There was a sudden knock at her door. Alice jumped slightly before quickly getting up from the bed. "Who is it?" She asked hesitantly.

"It's me." Dante answered from the other side of the door.

The warrior opened up the door for him. She stood there, stricken with awe when she saw Dante. His jet black hair, usually slightly messy and unruly, was neatly combed out and matted down. Instead of his usual black coat and white shirt, he wore a silky dark blue robe that went down to his ankles. Underneath he wore black pants and a black sash was wrapped around his waist. Each article of clothing was embroidered with fancy golden serpents that seemed to coil around his body. The more Alice stared, the more she thought he looked like a refined member of royalty.

"When you're done gawking, Nackt wanted to see the two of us inside of her study."

Snapping back to reality, Alice narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance. "I-I wasn't staring!"

"Idiot, then stop spacing out." Dante replied with a sigh. As he began to walk away, Alice followed him, shutting the door to her room behind her. Closely at his heels she followed, arguing with him every step of the way.

"I wasn't spacing out!"

"You know one day you'll totally space out while we're out and you'll get yourself hopelessly lost."

Alice scoffed loudly. "I won't get lost! I could find my way back home with or without you!"

"I doubt it." Dante muttered under his breath.

Even though she heard each word clearly, Alice pretended not to hear it. When they arrived at the study, Nackt was already inside. She was seated upon a rather large chair covered in fuzzy pelts. Alice quietly followed Dante into the room.

"Please have a seat." Nackt said in a gentle voice. She made a graceful hand motion over to the two seats opposite from her. A large low lying table separated Nackt from them. Once Dante and Alice got seated, Nackt asked them, "You came here to ask me to be in alliance with the Aegis?"

"That's right." Dante replied. "I know you've refused to send help for us many times before so-"

"And that's my answer this time as well. I refuse to join this war." She answered bluntly.

"But-" Before Dante could finish his sentence, he heard Alice get up from her seat immediately.

"How can you be so ignorant!?" The blue haired girl shouted.

"Alice, sit down." The archer whispered through his teeth. He made a move to pull her down by the sleeve of her silk dress. It caught him by surprise when she hit his hand away. She never once looked at him and kept her sharp blue eyes narrowed at Nackt.

"Ignorant?" Nackt asked coolly. "If you're talking about me being ignorant about the war, you're sadly mistaken. I simply do not wish to join."

"You're the one who's mistaken!" Alice angrily shouted. "Do you think that by treating us like honored guests that we'll be persuaded to leave you alone!? We came here to do one thing and that is to ask you to create an alliance with us. It'll be foolish to not join us."

"Is that a threat?" The atmosphere suddenly became icy cold as Nackt narrowed her dark purple eyes in irritation towards Alice. Dante noticed this and looked up at Alice to see if she had any reaction towards this. However, she maintained her pose and showed no signs of change to her expression.

Shaking her head slightly, Alice replied, "It isn't a threat. It's the truth. Krylin...wants you to join her side as well. But unlike us, she will definitely attack you for opposing her. Either way, you'll be forced into this war regardless of whether or not you don't want to partake in it." She watched silently as Nackt looked away. The Ice Queen's expression seemed to be in a state of deep thought. She was forced into a corner and she knew there was no way out of it.

"I...refuse to join the war."She quietly whispered.

Taken aback by the statement, Alice held the expression of shock across her face. "You can't keep avoiding the war!"

"Yes I can!" Nackt suddenly lashed out. Both Alice and Dante were taken aback at the sudden flare of anger. Even the two guards standing behind Nackt had a surprised Ice Queen clenched her hand tightly on the armrest of the chair. "Please...take your leave early tomorrow at dawn."

"You're not being reasonable!" The warrior argued. "Many innocent people will continue to die because of this war and you're going to do nothing about it?"

"They are not _my_ people Miss Alice. They are _your_ people. I refuse to sacrifice anyone in my castle for _your_ war." Nackt got up. "I do not wish to talk about this matter any longer. There will be no alliance with me to the Aegis and that is my final decision."

"But-!"

"_Please_ Miss Alice. You will never understand my reasons for this and I doubt you ever will. I am sorry you had to travel all this way just to face disappointment, but I ask that you and Dante to relay my decision to Athena properly."

Before Alice could speak up once more, Nackt left the study.

"Return to your rooms for the night. I'm sure you both will need your rest to leave tomorrow." The guard gave a slight bow and left. The whole room was finally silent. Alice stood there stiffly. She didn't know if she was still shocked at the outcome of the conversation or if she was shocked at the way she behaved. It wasn't until Dante touched her shoulder that she snapped out of her momentary daze.

"It's getting late." He muttered. He turned to the door and held it open as Alice walked out past him. The warrior nervously followed him down the dark corridor. Once again she found herself in silence and found it to be nerve wracking. Her sapphire blue eyes darted up to the back of Dante's head and then back down to the marble floors. They shined dully with the moonlight hitting them. Finally she had worked up the courage she had earlier when she talked with Nackt.

"D-Dante?" She mentally cursed at herself for stuttering still. "Are you...mad at me?"

"...Why should I be mad with you?"

"Because I messed up...badly."

Dante gave a low chuckle. "You would admit that to yourself so easily?"

"Eh?"

"You saw her too didn't you? Her expression changed dramatically. You hit a nerve within her, but she won't admit it. I wouldn't say that was a failure."

"But, I...I didn't get the alliance. I only made her hate the Aegis even more."

They arrived at their rooms. Dante turned around promptly when they were both in front of the door to Alice's room. "You don't know that for sure. Neither of us do. Nackt is known for being very stubborn. Truthfully..." He let out a little sigh and looked away as if he were embarrassed. With a slight laugh he continued, "Truthfully, I was about to turn back when the guards wouldn't let us through the entrance earlier."

"Then why didn't you? You were the one that came up with the plan to get in after all."

"I suppose I didn't want to give up...plus..." He turned back to her. His dark red eyes shined slightly. "I wanted to see if you'd really disguise yourself as an old lady and succeed."

Alice clenched her fists tightly in anger. "What!?" She yelled. "I knew it! I knew I didn't have to go out disguised! You went through those soldiers just fine even when they discovered me!"

"Don't get so angry over that." Dante said, trying to calm her down. He couldn't help but smile slightly when she stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest. "But...I'm really surprised at what you did back there."

"Huh?" Alice turned to him. "Which one? The disguise or the talk for alliance?"

"Both." He gave a gentle smile, one that made Alice's knees go weak. She felt heat creep up her neck and work its way up to her cheeks.

"I-It was nothing." She muttered. Dante gave a soft laugh and he walked over to his room. He opened up the door and stopped halfway. Alice stared at him quizzically. She felt a new wave of heat rush up to her face when he leaned his forearm against the icy door frame and rested his head on it.

"You still continue to surprise...don't you?"

"Th-That's-!" Before Alice could get a proper sentence out, Dante flashed another smile before going into his room. She stood there for a while afterwards. The heat in her cheeks still flaring up occasionally. Taking her hands, she clapped them over her cheeks and shook her head vigorously. "Stupid." She muttered. Before she opened the door to her room, she couldn't help but smile out of pure joy.

* * *

_'Do you feel better yet Dante?...'_

Clenching his fist tightly around bunches of the silky blanket of the bed, Dante tossed and turned. Sweat gathered on his brow and his black hair clung to the sides of his face and the back of his neck with sweat. He heard a devious giggle.

_'Aren't you so cute? Still struggling to maintain your sanity."_

He groaned in pain as he laid there on his back. His breathing grew ragged and heavy until finally he opened his eyes. There he saw her standing by his bed, watching over him with a gentle, but demon possessed smile.

"It hurt earlier...didn't it?" She cooed, stroking his head as a mother would to a child.

Dante continued panting. He wasn't sure if he could talk or if he could hear anything. The strange thing was that he felt no incentive to stand up and kill her. He had no desire to harm her in any way at all. Strangely, all he desired was her soothing touch as she continued to run her fingers through his black hair.

"I will take the pain all away soon..." She whispered as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"...What are you doing here?" A stern voice snapped out.

Krylin turned and her lips twisted into a grin. "My, my...what is _the _Ice Queen herself doing here?"

Nackt narrowed her deep purple eyes. She looked at Dante and saw that his red eyes were fogged over and that he was staring blankly up at Krylin. "You...You plan on doing this again?"

"What do you mean?" Krylin asked in an innocent tone. She lowered her head to Dante's neck. Her long purple hair splayed out over the bed and over his body. "This...perhaps?" She gave the archer's neck a little lick. Dante showed no reaction to it at all.

The Ice Queen stepped forward. "This is the price you pay for eternal life I suppose."

Licking her lips, Krylin got up from the bed and coolly looked over Nackt. "It's all worth it, don't you believe so?" She giggled softly.

"Monster...you don't even remember how your original body looked, do you?"

"Mm, what does that matter?"

"...That's what you want that boy for isn't it? He is the new vessel for your soul."

Krylin chuckled darkly. "How mistaken you are." She stepped away from the bedside. "Still left in the shadows with that stubborn attitude of yours, aren't you?" She laughed again when Nackt turned away. "Fool. That'll be the end of you." The purple haired woman lifted her staff and tilted it slightly.

"Wait!" Nackt ordered, but in the blink of an eye Krylin had vanished. The Ice Queen let out a sharp breath.

Dante let out a choked gasp. He began coughing and awoke. After his fit, he noticed Nackt was in his room. "Did you...need something?" He asked, seeming completely clueless about what happened.

Nackt searched his face for a while, looking for any indication that he remembered anything from just a while ago. When she couldn't find any, she simply shook her head. "I'm sorry. I thought I heard a noise in here. Please go back to sleep. I'm sorry to have awaken you."

"It's fine..." The black haired man said quietly as Nackt left the room looking quite distressed. Once the door shut closed, Dante cupped the side of his neck subconsciously. He lowered his hand and let it rest over his chest. He felt his slow, rhythmic heartbeat underneath his hand. Clenching the white fabric of his shirt with his fist, he felt uneasiness in eat away inside of him. Dante let out a shuddering sigh and fell back upon the pillow. He lay there for the rest of the night simply staring up at the embellished canopy of the bed. He never caught a wink of sleep.

* * *

**A/N **_Sorry again if this chapter was confusing. Like I said, I'll try and go back to edit some parts later. I wrote a majority of this half awake and days apart. So once again, review. It shows me that people actually read this crap. _


	13. The Impossible Enemy

**A/N **_Sorry for not updating this story so much. I had writer's block for this. Blegh. _

_Anyways, I've noticed that some of the dividers between events in the earlier chapters, have disappeared. I don't know why they did so I'll be going through the earlier chapters and rewriting some of them. I wrote horridly. Ick._

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**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Assassin_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

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* * *

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**Chapter 13**:** The Impossible Enemy**

"Thank you for your hospitality." Dante gave a slight bow and made Alice give one as well. The stubborn warrior glanced at Nackt, who showed no signs of resent for what happened last night. In fact, Alice thought that she looked a little bit worried. She gave a rough bow and tugged on Dante's arm slightly, silently asking him if they could leave.

Nackt gave a little smile. "May your travel back be safe."

"Thank you." Just as the two of them were about to leave, Nackt stopped them.

"Wait." She looked worried again. With a slight hand motion, she asked them to step Alice moved to follow Dante, Nackt shook her head. "I'm sorry Miss Alice. I need to speak with Dante privately."

Alice watched as Dante followed Nackt. They stopped just a few feet ahead of her and they seemed to be whispering. She looked at the guards, who showed no interest in their Queen's private conversation, and then looked back at Dante. He seemed to be agitated and annoyed. Finally she saw Nackt slipping him a small potion vial. He stepped back slightly, looking as though he was refusing it. But then he seemed to change his mind and hesitantly took the small vial out of her hands. He slipped it into the small pouch strapped to his thigh, where he kept his other health and mana potions.

Finally, Dante walked back to Alice.

"Be careful," Nackt called out after him.

Dante turned back and stared at her for a while. Wordlessly, he looked away and walked. Confused, Alice glanced back and forth between the two before taking off after Dante. She kept glancing back until the Ice Palace was out of sight and the only thing she could see were the darkened barks of the evergreen trees.

"What were you two talking about?" she asked him.

"Nothing much," Dante said nonchalantly. "Don't concern yourself over it too much."

"Hmph, that's what you always say." Alice pouted.

* * *

_'Human? Ha! Stop joking!'_

_'You will never be human...you will always be a weapon.'_

"Ivan...?"

The blond pirate snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Si Hua. She was at the other end of their small campsite. He was sitting beside their burnt out firepit and had a handful of snow in his hands.

"Are you okay? You looked like you were in a daze just a second ago."

"I-I'm fine," he muttered, throwing in the last bit of snow. As the dying embers made their last sizzling sound, Ivan got up suddenly. "Si Hua...I'm going to go find them."

"Huh? Who? You don't mean Dante and Alice, do you?"

"Yes."

"You can't!" She came up to his side. "What are you hoping to accomplish by going to them!" When she heard no response, Si Hua felt her lower lip twitch from the threat of tears. "I-I don't want to go back to Krylin alone. Can't we go back together?" She sniffled, grasping his wrist. "Please."

Ivan took her hand and gently pulled away. "You need to learn how to face Krylin on your own."

"...What?"

"I won't always be there with you."

"Ivan..." Si Hua felt the tears trickling down her cheek faster. "But-But...I can't! I really can't!"

"She's still a person! She's nothing but a person! You're blowing this situation out of proportion!" he lashed out, surprising her. Ivan narrowed his green eyes at her and turned around. He gently touched the black cloth covering his right eye. "Just go."

The assassin clenched her fists. "Fine...I will!" She angrily wiped the tears off her face. Sniffling, she stomped away from him and suddenly stopped. She turned around and shouted back at him, "You don't even care about me or what might happen to me do you!" When she got no answer, Si Hua bit the lower corners of her lips. "Monster..." She muttered before leaving.

Ivan simply stood there afterwards. His hands shook as he balled them up into tight fists. "I'm not a monster..." He whispered hatefully as he left in the opposite direction...never looking back.

* * *

A harsh cold wind blew across the snowy landscape. The wind brushed past Dante, but he was used to the bitterness of the wind a long time ago. He gave a soft sigh and uncurled his fingers. In the middle of his palm was the small vial of deep blue liquid that Nackt had given him before he and Alice left the palace.

_"How long do you plan to keep it from everyone?" _

_"...What are you talking about?" _

_Nackt narrowed her eyes at him. "I know you've been in constant pain for a while now. You can't catch a good night's sleep and you get sudden aches in your chest..."_

_Dante remained silent, looking away from her. "If that is all you have to say to me, I don't need to hear it. I already know the obvious." _

_"Krylin...you've been in contact with her haven't you?" _

_"...What does that have to do with anything?" Dante asked. No sooner was it that he saw the mage hand him a small vial filled with a blue liquid. "How will that possibly..."_

_"It will cure you. Free you from her curse." She interrupted. "Take it."_

_Dante took a step back, apprehensive to take it from her. "I know I'm cursed. I don't need that." _

_"Of course you do. Are you planning on being like this until the curse takes you over? Don't just think about yourself. Think about others. How will they feel when you are gone?" _

_"I don't-."_

_"That girl...she seems to have taken a liking to you." Nackt interrupted again. She searched his face and saw that it was expressionless. "You knew that already and yet...you wish to do nothing about yourself. Unless you don't care about her or anybody else, I suggest you take this." She held up the hand holding the potion bottle. _

_Dante grudgingly took the potion bottle. "What will this exactly do?" _

_"I suspect Krylin fed you a potion of her own. It will counteract the poison she has given you." _

The archer leaned back against the hard trunk of a dead pine tree. He clenched his fist tightly around the bottle and roughly shoved it back into his thigh pouch. Just as he clipped the pouch shut, Alice came running up to him.

"Dante!" She shouted. "I found a little stream not too far from here! We can have some water before we go!" She seemed excited over this discovery. When all Dante did was nod his head slightly in acknowledgment, she pouted. "At least be a little bit more excited!"

"You can be excited for the both of us."

Alice let out a quiet 'hmph' and led the way towards the stream. They walked there in silence. Occasionally, Alice would glance back to check if he was still there. Not because she thought he would run off, but because he made little sound it made it seem as if she was they arrived at the stream, the warrior broke the silence by ushering Dante to have a drink.

"Idiot. How are we supposed to drink this water?"

"Eh? What do you mean? It looks fine to me. It's not dirty or anything."

"There's ice floating downstream. The water's probably chilled."

"That's fine though! Watch." Alice knelt down by the stream first. She removed the gloves she wore on her hands and dipped her pale hands into the stream. She brought the water up to her mouth and drank it. Her throat felt as if it were freezing up, but the water felt very good nonetheless. "See?"

Dante sighed and knelt down beside her. He took her small hands and clasped them together within his own. "Are you just trying to get frostbite on purpose?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll get frostbitten if you leave your hands out in the cold like this while they're wet."

"I won't."

The archer opened up his hands and revealed her hands to her. "Look, they're already red." He clasped his hands together again and brought her hands up to his mouth. Quietly, he blew out puffs of warm air out of his mouth and onto her delicate hands. At the gesture, Alice grew embarrassed.

"St-Stop doing that." She tried pulling her hands away.

"If I do you'll get numb fingers."

"I'll be fine if I just put my gloves on," she insisted, yanking her hands away rather roughly. Attempting to hide the bright red blush upon her cheeks, she quickly slipped on her gloves and stood up. "We-Well since we can't drink this water, I guess we should just keep going back towards El Nath r-right?" A nervous, forced laugh followed.

Dante remained silent for while, staring blankly at the back of her head. He finally let out a soft chuckle and stood up as well. "That would be best," he replied, walking past her. Alice quietly followed him, her cheeks still hot from what had happened a few minutes ago. Nervously she wrung her hands and fidgeted with her thumbs.

"Something on your mind?" Dante asked without turning around. Alice shook her head vigorously, even though she knew he had his back turned to her. "Nothing in particular." She knew that was a total lie. Quite frankly, deep inside she wanted to ask him a question that would probably anger him and that was the last thing she wanted at the moment. Another harsh wind blew and Alice thought she was starting to hear things when she heard someone call out her name. When she heard it again, she asked Dante, "did you hear that?"

Before he could answer, Alice turned around and instantly her face lit up at the sight of her friend Ada running up to her. "Ada?" she asked, just as the black haired thief stood in front of her. "What are you doing here? This is all so sudden!"

"Athena sent us to find you guys. She thought you two were lost," Ada replied. She glared at Dante when he let out a scoff of disbelief.

"Us?" Alice asked, "who else did Athena send with you?" Her question was immediately answered when she heard a certain cleric's airy voice call out from behind Ada.

"Ada, please stop running so fast!" Minna exclaimed as she finally caught up them, out of breath.

"Jeez...always dragging me down," Ada muttered, only to receive a jab in the arm from Alice. She yelped and rubbed the area where she was hit. Alice ignored her friend's spiteful glare and greeted Minna cheerfully. "You didn't strain yourself too much coming here did you?"

The strawberry blond cleric shook her head and smiled brightly. "I have great endurance, Alice!" she exclaimed, promptly taking hold of the warrior's hand. "Since we're on this subject, do you and Dante have any injuries I should heal?" Minna immediately began to inspect Alice by lifting both her arms, checking around her waist and on the backs of her legs, all of which made the blue haired girl uncomfortable. "I-I have no serious injuries Minna!" Alice exclaimed as she gently pushed the cleric away. At this awkward moment, Dante couldn't help but let out a stifled laugh. Alice glared at him. "Minna, perhaps you should check _Dante_ for some injuries." the warrior sneered in a rather haughty manner.

As the three of them bickered, Ada had her attention turned towards the dense forest. Something was causing her to be restless. She suddenly felt a surge of foreign mana. In a hurry, she turn towards the other three and yelled, "get down, now!"

Alice heard something whiz past her ear just as she got down on the snow covered ground. "Ada!" the warrior cried out.

"Stay down!" Ada yelled back, standing up and taking out two sharpened steely knives from the small pouches at her waist. As she was about to go towards the source of the foreign mana, Dante stopped her. "What are you doing!"

The black haired man held her back but blocking her with his arm. "Let me take care of this."

"Can _you_ sense the mana?"

Dante remained silent to Ada's question. The assassin grit her teeth in annoyance. "You'll only end up getting yourself killed if you don't know where the enemy is!"

"And you'll only end up getting yourself killed if your strength doesn't match up to the enemy!" Dante shouted back.

"Are you calling me _weak_?"

Alice had gotten up from the ground and walked over to her friend's side. "Ada," she said in a stern voice, taking hold of the assassin's thin wrist. Her blue eyes were silently telling her friend not to say anything more. "Dante can take care of this."

Ada looked back at Alice. She then focused her attention on Dante and finally she lowered her arms. "Fine," she mumbled, "what will we do then?"

Suddenly, another shot rang through the air. Everyone cringed at the loud bang. Dante narrowed his deep red eyes at the dense foliage of trees ahead. There was no doubt in his mind that it was Ivan. He had come back for them.

The archer readied himself, clutching his bow tightly and touching the heavy string of the bow with his other hand. A shining arrow began to form on the bow. "Cover me," he whispered just as he disappeared in a blur.

* * *

He heard another bullet dig into the trunks of the trees around him as he swiftly jumped from branch to branch. Dante glanced back and saw the blond haired pirate just behind him. The archer stopped and whipped around. Immediately he produced a golden arrow and shot it at Ivan. The arrow flew just past him, scraping past barely on the sleeve of his dark brown overcoat. Ivan must have felt it for he stopped his pursuit.

Dante glared at him, raising his bow to shoot once more. "Why are you attacking us?"

Ivan remained silent. He instead, clicked his gun and raised up to eye level. Without warning, he shot. Dante managed to dodge it once more. He dared not to get hit by any for he experienced the pain of removing just one from his shoulder. "Answer my question!" he yelled.

"Must I have a reason...?" Ivan muttered, clicking his gun again. He narrowed his green eyes at the black haired archer. "Perhaps I just feel like killing you all." A spark of yellow energy crackled around the gunslinger's hand and around the gun he held. Dante took this as a sign of danger. He quickly clicked his bow back onto it's hold on his back and he jumped down from the branch he stood on. He heard the rapid fire of bullets above his head as he hung from the branch with both hands. He heard the pirate's gun click once more and without a second thought he swung off from the branch and fell down to the snow covered ground below. With a grunt, he landed on his feet and tumbled forward. The place where he had landed was now being pelted down with multiple bullets.

Dante unclipped his bow from its hold and held it tightly in his left hand. He hid behind a tree and waited until he heard no more gunshots. He readied a bright golden arrow in his hand and came out from his hiding spot. In a flash, he saw the blonde gunslinger high up in the trees. Swiftly, Dante shot two arrows towards him. The pirate dodged them easily and jumped down to the ground.

Ivan kept his emerald green eyes on the archer the whole time as he walked towards him. Dante didn't break the intense gaze.

Then without warning, Dante rushed forth. He swung his heavy bow at Ivan's head. The blonde ducked, but was too slow to block a kick aimed at his side. He took the impact and grunted as he stumbled. Dante took this opportunity to step back and shoot an arrow at the pirate.

Ivan saw the arrow in the split second that it was shot, but before he could do anything to defend himself the arrow went straight through his chest. He gasped and fell forward. Doubling over in pain, he tightly clenched a fistful of white snow. The ground below him slowly became tainted with a deep red color.

"It's over," Dante said, panting lightly. Puffs of air was seen leaving his lips due to the frigid temperature. He watched Ivan raise a trembling hand to the arrow embedded in his chest. "It's useless if you pull it out," he stated.

The gunslinger remained silent before he laughed lightly in a sneering manner. He got up slowly, much to Dante's surprise. Ivan grabbed the golden energized arrow and roughly tore it out of his chest. Blood splattered onto the white snow as he threw it down. It dissolved quickly afterwards. "You look surprised," Ivan coolly said.

Dante glared at him. "I shot you through the heart. How are you-"

"Still alive?" Ivan finished up for him. He looked down at his injury and ran his hand over the bloody, torn injury. The skin was already healing above and the deep tissues underneath were reconnecting themselves.

"What exactly are you?" Dante questioned with clenched teeth and a narrowed gaze. He was in disbelief and shock over Ivan's recovery rate. It was faster than a cleric's heal.

Ivan glared at the bowman with the expression of distaste. He raised his gun towards him and wordlessly shot another storm of bullets. Dante barely dodged again as he hid behind another tree. Ivan clicked his gun and lowered it. "Who knows," he murmured, his green eyes dropping down to the snow. He saw his crimson red blood staining the ground and stepped over it. "I'd like to know what I am myself..."

The black haired archer breathed heavily as he pressed his back up against the tree's bark. He touched his cheek where blood was dripping out from a scratch he had gotten from a passing bullet. He silently cursed to himself as he wiped off the blood on his pants.

_'He's too fast. Even when I land an attack on him, he can regenerate himself.' _Dante bit down on his bottom lip.

"When are you planning to come out from there?" Ivan's low voice snapped Dante out of his own thoughts.

_'Damn it...' _

Just as he stepped out from behind the tree, he suddenly heard Ivan let out a sharp gasp. Dante widened his eyes when he saw the gunslinger impaled through the chest by Alice's Eviscerator. It was a gruesome sight as the large crescent moon shaped end had simply torn through Ivan's body. Alice was behind him, holding her ground as she held her weapon tightly. Her gloved hands were splattered with blood as well as her left cheek. Dante could see her legs visibly trembling as well as her arms, but her expression remained firm.

Dante slowly walked over to the two. He looked at Ivan and saw that the blonde was motionless. His green eyes were nearly closed as his body grew limp. However, Alice still gripped her weapon tightly and she did not move at all.

"Alice," Dante whispered, stepping closer to her. He saw her firm expression slowly turn into that of fright and horror. Gently, he placed his hand over hers. "Alice, you can let go. He's dead."

The warrior looked down at her hands and at the bloody end of her polearm that had speared through Ivan. She let out a soft cry as she quickly let go. Her body fell to the ground and she sat there, trembling and weeping softly.

"I-I'm sorry, Dante," she apologized. "This is the first time...the first time I've...k-ki-" She couldn't even bring herself to say the word as she brought her bloodied hands up to her face. Alice felt the cold wind gently stir her blue bangs against her face. "I killed him, " she whispered. Her sapphire colored eyes wandered over to Ivan's body, which laid just a few feet away from her. The snow beneath his body was now tainted in a solid red because of his blood. Her polearm still remained inside of him. Alice whimpered and held her stomach.

"What's the matter?" Dante asked, kneeling down beside her.

"I...I just feel sick," Alice replied. This was the first time she had ever seen so much blood, especially from one person.

"You need to get used to it. Your weapon was made to give gruesome injuries. It isn't suppose to give a clean cut like a sword or the stab of a dagger. It's a weapon that was made to give injuries like that." Dante motioned his hand towards Ivan's body. "So you need to get used to it. Whether you like it or not."

The blue haired girl nodded hesitantly. "I'm sorry," she apologized, standing up.

"You don't need to apologize. It was your first time killing someone. I wouldn't have expected you to act any differently than you did just now."

Alice bit her lip as she looked over at the bloody mess. She walked over slowly to retrieve her polearm, when she suddenly heard a low chuckle. Immediately, she stepped back. "Dante...?"

The archer clenched his teeth and raised his bow. "That bastard's still alive."

In horror, Alice watched as the blonde slowly got up. Once he stood up, he grabbed the polearm and effortlessly pulled it out of himself. He seemed to hold the weapon as if it weighed nothing. "Hm, you actually thought you had killed me? How foolish." He turned towards them and threw the bloody weapon down on the snow. The gaping hole in his body was quickly healed. Ivan looked at them with an indifferent expression as he adjusted the black pirate hat on his head. "Now then," he coolly drawled out, "when do you plan to come at me seriously?"

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**A/N **_Probably a billion grammar mistakes, but I'll go over this chapter again later. _

_For right now, sleep. Zzzz._

_Read and Review!  
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	14. The Immortal Man

**A/N **_Again, sorry for not updating so much. I had major writer's block for just every one of my stories.  
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**Chapter 14: The Immortal Man  
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The sound of gunshots and the shrieking sound of metal clashing against each other echoed through the snow covered valley. Alice ducked behind the tall pine trees as she heard bullets whizzing past her ears. She tightly gripped her polearm and let out ragged breaths. Aside from earlier, she hadn't manage to hit the blonde gunslinger at all. He was just too fast for her.

Alice saw Dante taking cover from the hail of bullets just a few feet away from her. He had his back pressed up tightly against the rough bark of the tree as he fished around in the small bag that was strapped to his thigh.

"Dante, what do we do? He keeps recovering himself and he doesn't even seem tired!" she exclaimed, feeling as if they were fighting a losing battle.

"We'll just have to hit him harder then," Dante replied, taking out a small tan colored pill. He popped it in his mouth and crunched down on it. He faced her and said, "stay here."

"But-" Before Alice could finish her sentence, Dante had left. She peered out from behind the tree and saw Ivan making his way towards her, his gun raised. Alice narrowed her sapphire colored eyes and she readied herself to go make an attack on him. But, before she could even take a step, she saw Dante land on the ground just behind the pirate.

He swung his black Arund at Ivan's head, only to have the blonde dodge the attack. Ivan whipped around and faced Dante. "So, you're using your partner as a decoy? Is that it?"

Dante didn't say anything as he charged towards the gunslinger. He held the bow tightly as he attempted to jab, kick, or punch him. Alice watched the two fight as she wondered if she should go and attack Ivan while his guard was down from her.

_'Dante told me to stay here though.' _

Alice tightened her grip and saw an opening. Just as she was about to take that opportunity to attack, Ivan gave his gun a swift twirl and pressed it up against Dante's chest. In a loud bang, Alice saw the archer fall to the ground.

"Dante!" she cried out. "Dante! Get up!"

Ivan stomped down on Dante's neck and shot him a few more times. He removed his foot and looked down at the bloody mess. "How pathetic."

The blue haired warrior trembled and felt her whole mind go into shock. She slowly stepped forward, ignoring the fact that Ivan was still there. Alice stopped after a few steps, still far away from Dante's body. She saw his red eyes lifelessly staring up at the sky with blood splattered on his cheek and drenching his white shirt a bright red. Alice stared at him until her vision blurred. Just as a tear slid down her cheek, she heard Ivan's pained yell. She watched as the pirate stumbled around with a bright yellow arrow stuck right through his neck.

Ivan turned his head and narrowed his green eyes. "You...how?" he asked in a raspy voice.

Much to Alice's great surprise, she saw Dante standing just a few feet away from Ivan. He had his bow raised as he answered, "I guess you can't differentiate between the real thing and a clone."

The blond pirate slowly turned his head back down to the bloody body lying on the snow. Right before his eyes, the body began to sink into the ground. After just a few seconds, all that was left were a few pieces of dry straw. Ivan clenched his teeth and whipped around, holding his gun. But before he could shoot off more bullets, Ivan gasped in pain when three more arrows impaled him.

Alice snapped out of her state of shock and rushed forward towards the gunslinger. Seeing as how Ivan had completely forgotten about her, she used this to her advantage. She swung the heavy polearm in a wide arch. While Ivan managed to barely dodge the attack, being caught horribly off guard, he lost his footing and fell back onto the ground.

Before either Alice or Dante could attack him again, a series of steelies flew down and stabbed into Ivan's arms and torso. Just after did Ada land on the ground behind him. The black haired thief walked over to Ivan and watched him attempt to pull the knives out of his body. She pulled out another steely from her sleeves and pointed it down at him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," she whispered lowly.

"Ada! Get away from him! He's going to heal himself up again!" Alice exclaimed.

Dante gently nudged her and told her to look at the fallen gunslinger. "Look, his healing process weakened. He's not regenerating as fast as he did before. I also believe that his coordination and senses are weakening. I never thought he would be fooled by my decoy clone. Plus, he dodged your simple attack just barely."

"Gee, thanks," Alice grumbled. She cautiously walked over to Ada's side and looked down at Ivan. "He's...not dead is he?" she asked, "because he's being awfully still."

"He's not." Ada answered, "I just coated some of my steelies in poison that paralyzes. He won't be moving around for a while."

"I see. Hey, where's Minna?" the blue haired girl asked. "You didn't leave her behind did you?"

Ada clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Of course not! I told her to follow me! It's not my fault if she went and got herself lost in these woods!"

"Ada!"

"What? There's nothing to worry about! There she is now."

Alice turned around and sighed in relief when she saw the bubbly cleric running up to them. She looked rather terrified as she embraced the warrior in a tight hug.

"Alice! I'm so glad to see you! I got so scared! I thought I would get lost and I would never see any of you ever again!" Minna cried as she buried her head in Alice's chest.

"M-Minna! Please! Everything's okay now, see?" she said, trying to comfort the orange haired girl. Alice blushed a bright red when Minna refused to let go. She faced Dante and hoped that he would do something about the situation but, all he did was shrug. Alice hesitantly placed a hand on Minna's head and hugged her. "Don't cry, you're safe now. See?"

The cleric sniffled and looked up at Alice with her big, teary eyes. She nodded and wiped away her tears with the back of her gloved hand. "Sorry, I'm such a bother." She let out a a soft laugh.

Alice shook her head and smiled. "Of course not!" She shot back a glare when she heard Ada's loud cough. "Anyways, let's just get back home. I've had enough of this place."

Minna nodded in agreement. "That sounds good!" Her dark red eyes suddenly looked over at Ivan, who had turned his head slightly and was now coughing out blood weakly. "Oh no! He's hurt!" She attempted to kneel down to heal him, when Alice quickly grabbed her arm.

"Wait, Minna! He's not an ally. He doesn't require healing."

"But, he's in pain!" Minna exclaimed.

"He's the one that Alice and Dante had to fight against! Do you really want to help him?" Ada shouted.

"I don't care! He's still a person, a human being! I can't just leave him!"

Alice found Minna staring back at her with a gaze of determination. The warrior looked away and gently let go her arm. Minna smiled and just before she was about to thank her, she felt another hand grab her other arm. She was about to let out a scream when she felt the barrel of a gun being pressed to her head. Just beside her ear, she heard Ivan's deep ragged breaths.

"Minna!" Alice shouted.

"Don't come any closer," Ivan breathed out. "Or I'll blow her head off." When he clicked the gun, Minna whimpered in fear.

"You bastard! She tried to heal you!" Ada yelled. "You don't kill off the one person that's trying to save your ass!"

The pirate laughed darkly. "You are all so hilarious. Human emotions seem so troublesome. Am I supposed to feel some sort of gratuity towards her?" He got up on his feet and yanked Minna up by the arm, keeping the gun close to her head. "Don't make me laugh."

"Alice!" Minna cried out, tears forming on the corners of her eyes again.

Dante raised his bow, ready to shoot when Ivan smirked. "I wonder, which will be faster? You shooting an arrow at my head or me pulling the trigger. I'm sure you'd be smart enough to make the right decision."

The archer narrowed his red eyes and lowered his bow just slightly.

"Dante," Alice whispered.

"Don't attack him," Dante said. "He's very capable of hurting Minna before any of us could land a blow on him."

"You can't just expect me to stand here while Minna's in danger!"

Suddenly, they heard a frightened scream from Minna. The orange haired cleric eyed the small steel bomb in Ivan's hand. He tightly held his arm around her neck as he quickly swiped the fuse of the bomb against a nearby rock. Sparks lit the fuse and it slowly began to burn.

"Alice! Please, run away!"

"But-!"

Ivan threw the bomb towards the three of them. Dante grabbed Alice's arm. "Come on!" The blue haired warrior hesitated as she took one last look at Minna.

"I'll be fine! Please, just-!"

It was then that the bomb went off. A plumb of smoke wafted around as Ivan took the chance to escape with Minna. The cleric whimpered as she was helplessly dragged alongside him. She didn't know who he was, only that he was the one that had attacked them earlier. This alone sent shivers down her spine.

It wasn't long before they finally stopped. She felt him let go of her and grab hold of her wrist.

"Heal me," he said lowly. He looked tired and weak as he struggled to keep on his feet. Minna nodded quickly and motioned for him to sit down. He fell back and began ripping out the steelies that were stuck in his arms. Carelessly he threw them off to the side and Minna cringed at how much blood came out from his wounds. Ivan noticed this, but didn't say anything as he sat back waiting for her to heal him.

Minna held out her hands and let several softly glowing green bubbles flow from her hands to his wounds. As she was doing this, she could feel his eyes on her.

"Back there...you said, you'd heal me because I was a human being."

Surprised by his sudden dialogue, Minna simply nodded as she continued her healing. Ivan dropped his gaze to his arm and he watched his wounds being repaired. Minna whispered nervously, "I-I became a cleric be-because I wanted to help people. I don't care if they are an enemy or an ally. I saw you in pain and-"

Ivan suddenly let out a soft 'hm'. "Regardless, it was foolish of you to even attempt to heal me. I am the enemy. It seems like your friends know that quite well." He turned his gaze onto her once more and he muttered, "what you do if I said I wasn't human?"

Minna remained silent as she finished healing his arm. As she silently reached for his other arm, he took hold of her wrist.

"Answer me."

"I don't know what you're implying. It's almost as if you're saying that you really aren't human."

The gunslinger gave her wrist a little squeeze before letting go. "And what would be your response to such a claim?" he asked as she began to heal his wounds once more.

"...I...I wouldn't care. You're human to me no matter what."

After a brief pause, Ivan looked away and mumbled, "I see..." Once Minna finished healing his arm, he took out the remaining steelies that were embedded deep in his chest and abdomen. He took off his red collared black long coat and unbuttoned the white shirt he had underneath. As he took off the white cravat around his neck, Minna looked at his bloody, ripped up clothes. Aside from his injuries from Ada's steelies, she couldn't understand how he lost so much blood, yet he wasn't even close to passing out. "Is that all your blood?" she asked him.

Ivan simply nodded slightly in response.

Minna wanted to ask more, but she hesitated. "Uhm, I'll try to finish up quickly. You're probably cold."

"I'm not," he muttered. "Aren't you the one that's cold?" Quietly he raised up a hand and touched her bare shoulder. Minna flinched and abruptly stopped her healing.

"S-Sorry," she stuttered before resuming her work. Minna had hoped that Ivan would take his hand off of her, but he did just the opposite. He let his hand go from her shoulder to her neck and cheek. She trembled softly as she felt his fingers lightly brush up against her skin. When he finally cupped her cheek she stopped healing once more and hit his arm away. "Please stop!" she shouted.

"Are you scared of me?"

"Are hostages usually treated like this?" Minna asked, holding a hand up to her cheek where Ivan touched her. Her hand trembled as she said, "I'm confused! You threatened to kill me earlier!"

"So you are scared," Ivan whispered.

"I'm...not scared of you. I'm only scared of what you will do to me."

"I'll let you go back once you're done healing my wounds. It wouldn't be logical to kill you when it is unnecessary."

Minna paused and hesitated before finishing up her healing. When the last wound on Ivan's chest healed over, she let her hands slowly return back to her sides. She continued to sit there as Ivan stood up and started to dress himself up. "Where will you go now?" she asked softly. When he didn't answer, she looked up at him and asked, "why do you fight for Krylin?"

The blonde remained silent until he slipped on his long coat. He seemed slightly hesitant, but he responded, "...I don't anymore. Not anymore."

"Then where will you go?"

When once again Ivan remained silent, Minna got up and asked, "if you have nowhere to go...-" Her sentence was cut short when Ivan suddenly grabbed her. She saw him with his gun raised towards the series of trees before them.

"Who's there?"

Minna shivered when a cold, bitter wind swept past them. She felt Ivan's hand tightening around her wrist, but not so much that it was painful. She wondered if he was being paranoid for she felt no foreign mana nearby, nor did she see anybody within the darkness of the tall trees. "I-I don't think anybody's there." Just as she said that, Ivan clicked his gun and shot.

A clunking sound was heard and Minna turned her head to see what it was. It was a male warrior lying on the ground quite a distance away from them. A pool of blood was beginning to collect around his head, indicating that Ivan shot him cleanly through his temple. The man groaned and got back up, stumbling over to them. Minna took a step back and asked, "wh-what's wrong with him?" She felt a brittle hand wrap around her neck. Before she could let out a scream, Ivan whipped around and shot. He pulled Minna close to him as she trembled at what she saw.

A zombie-like woman lay just at her feet, her mouth gaping wide open and her face looking unpleasantly ghastly. Minna froze with fright as Ivan shot at the same man earlier. "What are they? Are they zombies?"

"No," Ivan whispered under his breath. "They're Krylin's undead army."

* * *

Alice coughed as the thick smoke from the bomb lingered around her. The scent of burnt gunpowder was starting to make her head spin.

"Alice! Dante! Are you okay?"

The warrior attempted to get up, but she felt a slight heaviness. She turned her head slightly and found herself to be facing the crook of Dante's neck. Vaguely, she heard Ada's panicked voice.

_'She sounds so far away...' _

Her arms shook slightly as she attempted to get up from the ground. The weight that was previously on her shoulders was now slowly sliding down to her waist. She let out a weak cough and waved her hands out in front of her face to try and diffuse the thick smoke from the explosion.

"Alice! Can you hear me?"

"Ada...?" The blue haired warrior reached out a hand and patted her hands around on the snow covered grounds around her. That's when she felt a soft mass of what felt like hair. "Dante? Is that you?" She frowned slightly when she heard no answer. "I...I can't see you. There's too much smoke here." Once again, there was no answer. "Dante?" she asked again. Alice took hold of the weight that was on her waist and felt that to be his arm.

The smoke was beginning to lift and she finally saw a faint image of him. What she saw made her heart jump with panic.

He lay motionless on ground. A huge gash had opened up on the side of his head and blood ran freely down his cheek.

"Dante?" Alice asked in a panicked voice. She quickly rolled him over onto his back and hesitantly placed her ear down on his chest. A small wave of relief passed through her when she heard his weakened heartbeat.

"Alice!" The sound of hurried footsteps came from behind her.

"Dante, he's unconscious."

"Right when Minna is needed the most." Ada bit down on her bottom lip. "Try giving him some health potions. It's probably the only thing you could do for now." The assassin turned to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get Minna back," Ada replied.

"Let me go with you."

"No, you have to stay here and take care of Dante."

"But, Ivan's powerful. Even Dante had a hard time defeating him!"

"He's badly injured," Ada quickly cut in. "Plus, the more time we lose, the less of a chance we'll have of getting Minna back alive." Ada saw the worried look on her friend's face. The thief suddenly flashed a cheeky grin and reassured, "I'll be fine. Just take care of Dante."

Before Alice could say anything else, Ada ran off in the direction that Ivan fled to. "Be careful, Ada," Alice murmured. She turned her attention back towards Dante. Carefully, she took both of his shoulders and shook him gently. "Dante?" she asked, hoping to get him awake. When he didn't stir, she reached for the small pouch holding all of her needed potions on her hip. She took out a white potion and pulled off the cork. Almost immediately, the bitter scent of herbs surrounded her.

With great care, she lifted up Dante's head and held the potion bottle against his lips. She poured the white liquid into his mouth, but it wasn't going down his throat. Instead, it leaked out from the corners of his mouth in small trickles.

"Dante, please wake up...please." Alice attempted to slip the potion in his throat again, but he would not drink it. She wiped away the access liquid from his mouth. The warrior felt her eyes sting with the threat of tears as she tried once again to feed Dante the potion. "Dante..."

Suddenly, the archer coughed and opened up his eyes. He looked at Alice with a weak gaze. "Idiot, are you trying to kill me? You couldn't have expected an unconscious person to drink something."

A wave of relief swept over Alice. She felt a few loose tears roll down her cheek as Dante slowly sat up. He raised his hand up to her face and wiped away her tears using his thumb. "Don't cry over something like that now." Dante sighed heavily. "You're so troublesome."

Alice didn't say anything back to him. She simply sat there in silence, attempting to quell her crying. Finally she raised her head to meet his gaze and mumbled out, "you're the one that's troublesome. Getting hurt like that." Alice sniffled as she raised both her hands up to cover her eyes. "Why do you always make me so worried?"

Dante watched her silently wipe away the last of her tears. He finally placed his hand on the top of her head and muttered, "what am I going to do with you?" What he did next surprised Alice. He brought her into a loose hug, but held her close enough so that she could feel the heat from his body. "Don't worry yourself over me," he whispered, lowering his gaze. "I'll be fine. I promise."

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**A/N **_I'm sorry for not updating in a long period of time. I try to write as much as I can whenever I have free time, which I don't really have much of anymore. Nevertheless, I'll keep writing this story. i really want to finish this story, plus I enjoy writing it because I adore all of my little OCs. _

_I'll try to update every month, but again, there's no guarantee. _

_I know there might be a lot of questions surrounding Ivan and I assure you, all of them will be answered in the next few chapters. Patience, patience. Also, I know some people might be confused as to what skill Dante used against Ivan. No, Dante is not half assassin or anything. I just revamped the scarecrow skill archers get at 3rd job. I wanted to use it in my story, but honestly, I don't think even monsters are stupid enough to mistake a plain scarecrow with an actual target. Basically, that skill in my story, allows Dante to create one "scarecrow" only. The "scarecrow" cannot speak or think on its own. It's power is only half of what Dante can actually do so it's pretty much only useful as a decoy if needed. So, sorry for any confusion this may have caused.  
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_Thank you for all the reviews! _

_(And yes, I will find time to go back to fix up the older chapters. I know that the first couple of chapters are missing the line breaks that indict a scene transition.)  
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	15. Underneath the Moonlight

**A/N **_My author's notes at the end of each chapter, starting with this one, will contain a small character profile from my character list. _

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**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Assassin_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

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**Chapter 15: Underneath the Moonlight  
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"You couldn't find her?"

"Oh, I found her alright, but she told me to get lost, saying that she doesn't want anything to do with us anymore."

Athena sighed tiredly. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Kylin's always like this." After a brief moment of silence, the silver haired elf raised her head to meet Dark Lord's eyes. "Just forget about her. I don't think any amount of convincing will make her join us. In any case," she lowered her eyes, staring at the brown floorboards, "we have a more pressing matter on our hands. Grendel continues to feel uneasy."

"About what he sensed a while back? That?" Dark asked. "Maybe it's a spy. Do we know who it is?"

Athena nodded her head slightly. "But Grendel must be wrong. He has to be."

"Why? If it's one of us, he's obviously mistaken," Dark laughed lightly.

"No. It's not one of us. It's an Aegis Platoon leader." Athena paused for a moment before whispering, "Dante Kyudo."

* * *

Another rotting corpse fell to the snow covered ground. A bright white colored arrow was impaling the body through the chest. In mere seconds, the arrow dissipated.

Minna felt her arms ache as she shot off another bright arrow. She could not remember how many she had shot, but she knew the numbers of Krylin's undead army were not dwindling. As she motioned to shoot again, a corpse reached out and grabbed both her arms. She cried out in surprise as her magic bow and arrow disappeared from her hands. "Let go of me!" she screamed, helplessly trying to free herself from their grip. Just as she was about to be dragged into the huge mass of corpses, a bullet flew by her head and hit the corpse dead center on their head. It immediately let go of Minna and she back away from the advancing crowd of undead soldiers. She felt her back make contact with Ivan's.

"Where do they keep coming from?" she asked, her voice wavering slightly.

Ivan kept quiet. He narrowed his eyes at the corpses walking towards them. Wordlessly, he turned around and scooped Minna up in his arms, much to her surprise. Before she could ask what he was doing, he jumped up high into the nearest tree. She held onto him tightly as they saw the undead soldiers quickly cover up the one patch of ground they once were on.

"There's no end to them," Minna trembled. She turned her gaze down towards the tree trunk and saw the soldiers attempting to climb up. Ivan noticed this as well.

"They're after me," he muttered.

"What? Why? I thought you were a part of Krylin..."

Ivan didn't respond. Instead, he turned away from the undead soldiers and looked out towards the dense, dark evergreen forest. "What are you doing?" he asked out to what seemed like no one in particular.

Minna furrowed her brow in confusion. "Ivan? Who are you talking to?" As if answering her question, she saw a brown haired female assassin standing on a tree branch just few yards away. "When did she-?"

The girl seemed apologetic as she asked, "why are you asking me that question? I should be the one to ask you that, Ivan. Are you going to side with the Aegis now? Is that it?"

"Answer my question, Si Hua," Ivan calmly said, narrowing his green eyes at her.

The assassin clenched her fists and threw them down forcefully. "I can't believe it! I won't believe it! Ivan, why? Why...? Don't you like being useful to Krylin? If you leave, she'll never accept you again!" When she saw Ivan's unmoved expression, Si Hua felt hot tears collect at the rim of her eyes. "You're serious...aren't you Ivan?" She quickly pulled out three steelies and and glared at the gunslinger. "I'll never let you leave! You can't leave!" Si Hua threw the sharp knives at the blond pirate. Ivan quickly pulled out his gun and shot all three steelies with unrivalled precision, deflecting all of them.

"You told me you're scared of Krylin. So, why won't you leave?" Ivan asked, gently letting Minna back down onto her own two feet. "Why are you staying?"

The brown haired girl trembled as she took out two illbie stars. She didn't respond and only glared hatefully at Ivan. Her hazel eyes averted from Ivan to Minna. "So she's the one...right?"

Minna looked back with a confused expression. "Huh?"

Si Hua gritted her teeth and threw the stars at Minna. "She's the one that caused all of this!"

The orange haired cleric didn't even know what exactly happened next. The only thing she did know was that Ivan had stepped in front of her, his arm wrapped around her body and his gun raised. Smoke from the burnt gunpowder floated out from the barrel of the weapon. Ivan managed to shoot away one of the illbies, but the other one managed to embed itself deep in Ivan's neck. Minna looked up at him with an extremely worried expression. "Ivan..."

He coughed up blood and faced her. He shook his head rather weakly, silently telling her not to worry.

Si Hua took a step back. "Why did you defend her?" She seemed surprised by what Ivan had done. "I can't believ-" She stopped mid-sentence and jumped out of the way just as two tobis flew down to her. They created a dull thumping sound as they shot into the thick tree branch.

"You're quite light on your feet."

Ada jumped down from the higher tree branches and onto the same branch Ivan and Minna were on. Instantly, Minna's face brightened up. "Ada! You're okay!"

The assassin smiled a little towards her, but her expression quickly changed when she faced Ivan. "Are you done using her?" The gunslinger remained silent. He simply looked back at her with a weary gaze. Ada turned back towards Si Hua and told Ivan, "get Minna back to Alice. I see you have no intention on harming her, so I'll assume you'll keep true to that."

"Ada, what are you planning to do?" Minna asked worriedly.

"I'll hold her off. Make sure you get back to Alice. Dante's injured badly."

Minna nodded. She squeezed Ivan's arm and looked up at him. "I need to heal you first..."

Ivan shook his head in response. He opened his mouth and breathed out in a soft whisper, "I'm fine." His voice sounded hoarse to her and she assumed the illbi went deep enough into his neck that it damaged his vocal cords. Ivan scooped Minna up into his arms and looked down at the undead soldiers still below them on the ground. He raised his head and made a jump for the next tree branch. He quickly gained momentum and soon he was gone, along with Minna.

Ada sighed and looked at Si Hua. "Are you ready?" she asked under her breath. In a blink of an eye, Ada jumped up in the air towards the other assassin and threw a series of throwing knives. Si Hua, taken aback by her speed, barely had time to dodge the weapons.

The black haired girl landed on the same branch as Si Hua and said, "seems like you're not all that fast as I thought you were." Within the next second, Ada gave her a sweeping kick. Si Hua jumped it, but widened her eyes when she saw what Ada had in store for her next.

In her right hand, a giant avenger star shined with a multitude of colors. Ada, poised and ready to attack, threw the star with great force. It caught Si Hua off guard and pierced through her abdomen. She was thrown back into the trunk of the tree by the sheer power. Si Hua coughed and gasped for breath as she slumped down.

Ada stood over her. "You're not dead yet?"

Si Hua clenched her teeth and placed her hand on the avenger star. "I won't die that easily."

"Are you the same as that pirate? Regeneration of your body?"

The brown haired assassin laughed. "He's not human. Don't compare me with him." Her hazel eyes began to seem unfocused. "All he is...a monster," she whispered, her eyelids fluttering. After that word, her eyes closed and never opened again.

Ada silently stood there, looking down at her defeated opponent. "I don't think it was a fair fight at all," she muttered, "your feelings for him got in the way." The thief saw a loose tear slide down Si Hua's cheek. "You loved him...even though you knew he was a monster."

* * *

"Is something wrong with your arms?"

"I think...maybe?" Dante allowed Alice to hold his arm and gently feel around for any internal injuries. He flinched when she pushed down on his wrists. "They must've gotten sprained earlier."

Alice looked at him worriedly and moved around behind him. "I'll protect you on the way back to Henesys," she stated, taking Dante's bow in her hands. Surprisingly, the weapon was heavy as Alice strapped back into its hold on Dante's back. She had always thought of it as lightweight since Dante wields it with ease and agility.

The black haired man chuckled, amused by what she had said. "Protect me? You?"

Alice blushed out of embarrassment. "Quit laughing! I'm being serious! You obviously can't attack anymore because of your wrists so then-"

"I know," Dante replied. "Do your best." He smiled when he heard Alice stuttering back to him in response.

"O-Of course I will! I'm your martyr after all!" She felt her face heat up as she watched him get up from the ground. Alice quickly looked away before Dante caught her staring at him.

"Alice!" A familiar voice called out the warrior's name.

"Minna? You're oka-!" She stopped abruptly when she saw Ivan. Alice quickly pulled out her polearm and gripped the cold blue metal tightly. "Are you back for another fight?" she asked, glaring at the pirate.

"No, no Alice! Don't attack him! He didn't hurt me!" Ivan let Minna down onto her feet. "Please, let your guard down Alice. He won't hurt us," she repeated, seeing as how Alice was still poised to attack Ivan. Minna walked past Alice and ushered Dante to sit down. She inspected his wounds carefully. "I'm sorry Dante, if only I got here sooner I'd be able to heal your wounds no problem," Minna said apologetically as she began healing his head injury.

"It couldn't be helped. Don't apologize," Dante said. He silently turned his gaze over to Ivan, slightly wary of him despite Minna's earlier reassurance. He watched as Ivan pulled out the illbi that lay deep in his neck. Blood spurted out once the pirate pulled the star out from his wound, but he quickly stopped the blood temporarily with his hand clasped over his neck. Alice, still on her guard, eyed the hand that held the bloody illbi. Dante saw her whole body trembling; he knew it was not from the cold.

"Did Ada injure him?" asked Dante. When Minna raised an eyebrow out of curiosity, he glanced at Ivan.

"Oh," she replied, catching on. "No, it wasn't Ada that did that. It was another assassin. He called her "Si Hua". Ada...she's fighting her. She told me you were injured badly and that she'd take care of Si Hua."

"I see," Dante muttered. He gently took hold of Minna's hand, stopping her from healing. He stood up from the ground.

"Dante? I'm not done healing you," Minna said, standing up beside him.

"I can be healed later. I'm not too familiar with Ada's capabilities, but I do know that Si Hua is strong. However," the archer faced Ivan, "why was she attacking you in the first place?"

The blond gunslinger silently stared back at Dante. His emerald colored eyes finally looked away. "Apparently, Krylin doesn't want me to leave."

"Leave? So you're really-"

"Don't screw around with us!" Alice yelled, interrupting Dante mid-sentence. "You can't expect us to believe you _actually_ left Krylin."

"Alice!" Minna rushed up to the warrior's side and grabbed her arm. "Please! He isn't lying! Si Hua really was attacking him!" She pleaded to the warrior, but Alice didn't budge. She continued to glare daggers at Ivan and speak to him with a voice that dripped with poison.

"Krylin probably told you and Si Hua to fight each other in front of Minna to make it seem like you really are leaving!"

Ivan stood there quietly and unmoving. Before Alice could yell at him once more, Dante stepped forward towards the pirate. "As much as I would like to believe you myself, I can't. However, we will take you back with us to Henesys...as a prisoner. Athena and the rest of the leaders will figure out what to do with you."

Minna looked back and forth between Dante and Ivan with worry in her eyes. She went over to the black haired archer and asked him, "Will he be treated harshly as a prisoner?"

"I don't know," replied Dante, "that's ultimately up to Athena. However, I do know he'll be judged as a war prisoner and an enemy."

"C-Can't you ask Athena to go easy on him?" Minna stuttered. "You're a platoon leader."

"I don't have authority over things like that, Minna."

"But-"

"It's fine," Ivan stated, cutting Minna off before she could speak. He glanced at the cleric quickly before focusing his eyes on Dante again. "I don't care if you take me back as a prisoner."

"Ivan-!"

"Then it's settled," Dante said.

Minna, unable to go against Dante's word, simply dropped head in defeat. Alice noticed this and couldn't help but feel the least bit sorry for her. The warrior turned around to face her partner. "Dante, maybe..." She was interrupted when Ada had finally rejoined them.

"Ada! You're okay!" Minna cheered, immediately lightening up as she rushed over to the assassin.

"Of course I am!" Ada replied, her voice full of pride.

"You're not hurt anywhere?" asked the orange haired cleric. She tilted her head slightly and quickly scanned Ada's body with her eyes. She saw no visible injuries at all.

"She was weak. She barely did anything before I killed her."

Immediately, both Dante and Alice had their doubts.

"Are you sure you killed her, Ada? I mean...she could've been pretending to be dead."

Ada faced her friend. "I'm telling you Alice, she was dead when I left her. You can be rest assured."

"I...I don't know. I've fought her before and-"

"Well then, since we're all here. Let's make our way back towards Orbis. It should take us a few hours to get to El Nath and it should be night by the time we get to the top of Orbis tower," stated Dante. He saw the questionable look on Alice's face when he interrupted her. Keeping his eyes on her, Dante asked both Ada and Minna to watch Ivan carefully as they started their journey back.

"Why did you interrupt me?" Alice asked, keeping her voice down to a whisper so that the others wouldn't hear.

Dante placed her hand on her shoulder and leaned down so that he could whisper into her ear. "Just let it go. I know you fought Si Hua before and I could tell that she was strong. Maybe as strong as Ivan." The archer glanced up ahead at the blond pirate. He then switched his gaze towards Ada. His red eyes narrowed slightly. "No doubt Ada got stronger, but still, it's virtually impossible to have beaten Si Hua that easily without any injuries."

"So...is Ada lying? She can't be lying. She would never betray us."

"Idiot, calm down," Dante snapped. He lowered his voice down to a soft whisper once more. "Ada wasn't lying back then. It doesn't look like she's under any illusion spells either." The black haired man paused for a while before uttering, "I think it's best if you don't question her about it anymore. Something's not right, so it's best to lie low for a while."

* * *

"The fairies in Orbis sure are hospitable, aren't they? Giving us a whole meeting hall of theirs so that we could spend the night here," Minna remarked as she sat comfortably upon the soft blanket that was laid out on the cool marble tiled floor. She looked over at Ada and Alice, who were already fast asleep on their own blankets and then she looked over at Dante, who was handcuffing Ivan.

"I'm not going to runaway," Ivan muttered as Dante made sure the rusty old cuffs were securely fastened.

"I can't take your word for it."

"Meaning, you don't believe me."

"If you were in my situation, you wouldn't believe yourself either." As soon as Dante got done securing the handcuffs, he closed his eyes and held his head. His ears were still ringing from the earlier explosion they encountered.

"D-Dante, I can watch him for the night," Minna meekly offered up. She saw the archer shake his head. From the small bits of moonlight that shone through the small glass dome ceiling, Minna saw how tired Dante looked. He looked worn out and weak, which made him seem like a few years older.

"You go to sleep Minna."

"You need more rest than I do! Even though I've healed you, it doesn't mean you shouldn't sleep."

On the brink of exhaustion, Dante simply let her do as she pleased. "Wake us up if he does anything threatening, okay?" Without waiting for her reply, Dante walked over to the blanket spread out beside Alice and laid down. After just a few seconds, he was already in deep sleep.

"Are you always an insomniac?" Ivan asked, leaning against the wall and sliding down until he was seated upon the glossy floors of the large meeting hall.

Minna knelt down beside him. She shook her head and replied, "I didn't really get to do much today anyways." She smiled sheepishly.

The gunslinger didn't respond. He sat there silently, staring at the white marble tiles that glowed a soft blue color because of the moonlight. Minna glanced at him and asked, "d-did I heal the wound on your neck already? I don't see it anymore."

"You can't remember if you did or didn't?"

"We-Well..." In honesty, Minna knew that she didn't heal the injury Ivan suffered from Si Hua's illbi, but she didn't know how else he could have healed such a deep wound so quickly.

"I told you before...I'm not human."

"Huh?"

"I can't even remember how I came to be in this world. Strange, isn't it? It's like I suddenly appeared with this body and mind."

"But...you can't be _not_ human. I mean, you look like us."

Ivan raised both his hands up to his face and pulled them apart to what extend the rusty chain in between his cuffs let him. "How does that explain this...?" He brought his right hand up to his neck and sunk his fingers into his skin deep enough so that his blunt nails drew blood. Minna trembled as he dragged his hand down and left a sizable injury to his neck. She widened her eyes in amazement when she saw his wound healing right before her eyes. The skin grew back over the bloody gashes and in a few seconds, it was as if the wound was never there.

"H...How...?" Minna squeaked out, her voice wavering. She was still awe stricken by the display. She raised her hand up to his neck and felt the skin there to be soft and warm. "I don't understand. Even if you were a cleric...not even a priest could-"

"Instant regeneration. That was what Krylin called it, that was the main reason she valued me. I can get impaled by a spear and I'll live. I can get shot through the head by an arrow and I'll live. Even if a limb of mine was cut off, I'd grow back a new one. Tell me...how does that exactly make me human?" Ivan asked softly, never looking Minna directly in the eyes.

The cleric clenched her fists tightly on her knees. "You're still human to me. I don't care about your ability. I don't..." Minna's voice faltered as she said that. Ivan noticed this and looked up at her. He narrowed his green eyes at her and roughly grabbed her wrist. Minna cried out at this sudden action.

"Look me in the eye and say that to me straight. Say it like you mean it," Ivan whispered under his breath. He tightened his grip when Minna didn't reply.

She tried to pull away from his grasp. "Please...you're hurting me..."

"You guys are already taking me as prisoner anyways." He pulled her roughly. "Answer me."

Minna let out a frightened gasp as she was brought closer towards him. She managed to stutter out, "I-I say this because...you have emotions like us. There is no other reason than that."

"Emotions...?" Ivan asked, slightly shocked by her response. He loosened his hold on her wrist, which was now a bright red. "That's impossible."

"You were frustrated just now, weren't you? You were angry at me because I didn't give you a clear answer. That's an emotion."

"So anything that has emotions is human to you?" Ivan scoffed softly.

"_Anyone_ that can express emotions is human. Like you were doing."

Unable to say anything else, Ivan let go of Minna's wrist and relaxed. He sat back against the wall and tilted his head up towards the glass dome ceiling. From his peripheral vision, he saw Minna tending to her bruised wrist. "So...you're not afraid of me?" he asked. He waited for a response from her.

Minna looked at him and saw that he seemed slightly calmer than he was when she first saw him. In fact, his expression seemed almost serene. She lowered her gaze and smiled gently. "I am...but, it's not because you're not human. Strange, isn't it?"

* * *

**A/N **_More character development. Yay._

_Once again, the real reason to Ivan's "existence" will be explained in the upcoming chapters. _

_Anyways, here is a little ending segment I will do at the end of some of the chapters. It is a basic character profile with their basic statistics and information. One character will be done per chapter. _

**

* * *

**

**Dante Kyudo**

(Dahn-tey Kee-oh-doh) Note: "Kyudo" is Japanese zen archery

_Age: 19 years old  
Gender: Male  
Height: 6 foot, 1 inch_ (185 centimeters)  
_Weight: 167 pounds_ (76 kilograms)  
_Eye color: Red  
Hair color: Black  
Class: Ranger  
MapleStory in-game level (roughly): Level 90-105_

_Background: _Both his parents are presumably deceased. He doesn't know what happened to them, but he does know they disappeared during his early childhood. He is close friends with Cedric and assumed to have been friends for many years. Dante has no known siblings so he is an only child. He entered the Aegis around the age of 17 and quickly moved up the ranks to platoon leader all within two years. He is considered to be somewhat of a prodigy, although he does not flaunt it around. He has the disposition to be rude to some people he just met_. _Due to him being a young Aegis platoon leader and coupled with his handsome looks, he is admired by many of the younger female students in the Academy. However, he does not have girls fawning over him much like Cedric does. Why? Simply because many of the girls, while admiring him, fear him for his strict, no-nonsense character._  
_


	16. Back to the Basics

**A/N **_In order to avoid anymore reviews that make me say "orly?" I'll state that this story will be romance based, for those of you that haven't figured it out already. I don't know if I stated this before, but whatever. _

_Because of the Big Bang patch, I've decided to play MapleStory again. :C_

_And yes, the skill that Ada used in the previous chapter was Avenger and in the period of time she did not appear, she advanced to Hermit. Why yes, she is more skilled than Alice at combat and stuff. _

_If anything I've said bothers you, click the back button on your browser. Or leave me a lulz-worthy review IN CAPS, of course, stating how butthurt you are about how I'm writing **my** story and **my** characters. BAWWW :C  
_

_

* * *

_

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Hermit  
_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

_

* * *

_

**Aegis**

**Chapter 16: Back to the Basics  
**

"It feels so good to be back in Henesys again!" Alice cheered, stretching her back and then letting out a sigh once she regained her composure.

"Idiot, stop that. People are staring at us," Dante mumbled, shoving his hands into his coat pockets. Much to his dismay, the blue haired warrior turned around and glared at him.

"Maybe people are staring at us because you have such a grumpy frown on your face all the time!" Alice let out a soft 'hmph' and turned her back towards him.

The young male archer let out a frustrated sigh and ran his fingers through his hair once over. "Whatever, let's just go meet Athena to tell her what Nackt informed us about and," Dante turned to face Ivan, who was still handcuffed. He was met with a slightly empty gaze from Ivan before the gunslinger looked away towards the ground. "We'll have to turn him in as well."

"Wait, Dante!" Minna suddenly exclaimed. She grabbed his arm and pleaded, "can I please speak to Athena? I...I want to tell her-" She was cut short by Ivan speaking.

"There's nothing you can do for me. I'm ready to accept whatever punishment it is. I don't care what they decide to do with me."

"Ivan..." Minna let go of Dante's arm and stepped forward towards the gunslinger. To this, he promptly looked away from her, avoiding her eyes.

"Sorry," he muttered before willingly following Dante and Alice towards the council building.

* * *

Athena sighed. "I see..."

"I'm sorry," Dante whispered, bowing slightly out of silent apology. "We tried to persuade her, but she firmly refused to join the Aegis."

"No, it is fine." The silver haired elf gave a slight wave of her hand. "I understand Nackt's reasons for not wanting to join us to fight against Krylin." With that, she turned her attention towards Ivan who was standing behind Alice and Dante. "So, is he a captive?" she asked, seeing as how he had handcuffs on.

"Yes, he came with us willingly. He was working for Krylin, but he says he does not wish to any longer."

"Hm," Athena got up from her seat. She kept her icy eyes on the pirate. "Were you hoping to join the Aegis?" she questioned Ivan.

"I'm not sure," replied Ivan, staring back at her without an ounce of fear. "I had no other goal before than to serve Krylin...I'm not sure what to do anymore."

"Is this why you're offering yourself up as prisoner?" Athena watched as the blonde looked away, breaking their eye contact. "If that is your wish, then I see no harm in it. You will be imprisoned as a prisoner of war." She signaled towards two heavyset warriors that were in the grand council hall. They walked over to Ivan and lead him out of the room. Just as Alice and Dante were to follow them out, Athena stopped the two. "Dante and Alice...? Please stay here for a few more minutes. I have to give you two a new assignment."

As Alice turned back around to face Athena she whispered under her breath, "are we in trouble?"

Dante ignored her question and spoke to the silvery haired elf. "What is the assignment?"

"I think...you two need a break from any dangerous quests for a while." Athena cleared her throat softly and continued. "Which is why I'm assigning the two of you to spend some time instructing the students at the Academy."

Before Alice could say anything against it, it was Dante who spoke for her.

"Is this a joke?" he asked incredulously. When he saw that Athena's expression was unmoving he asked her again, "How about a simple intelligence gathering quest?"

"Those quests are now entirely reserved only for the reconnaissance platoons. Normal platoon leaders such as yourself are not permitted to be assigned to them. I expect no further questioning on this matter. What's done is done and you two will start teaching classes at the Academy starting tomorrow."

* * *

"She's hiding something from us."

"Well maybe...-"

"There's some sort of reason she has for this and it's a reason she doesn't want us to know about."

Alice kept her head down as she walked beside Dante. All the while, she made sure she didn't get lost within the large crowds in the marketplace where they were walking through. "I-I don't know Dante, maybe she's right. Maybe we do need some rest from everything..."

"What rest? No one else seems to be resting," Dante snapped out. "Everyone else is out doing useful quests while we get sent to the Academy to teach little brats."

"You used to be one of those _brats_ yourself you know. Frankly, I think you still are," Alice replied, knowing that she was going to get an earful from the archer.

"Don't tell me you're okay with all this. Even you have to admit that this is a ridiculous assignment."

"Well, we can't do anything about it anymore. Athena doesn't seem like she wants to take back what she said."

Dante let out a sharp, frustrated sigh and turned a corner. "Whatever," he muttered. When Alice followed him, he swiftly turned back around and said, "You're annoying, don't follow me around everywhere. Just..." He let out another sigh. "I'm going for a walk. _Alone._"

Alice felt a swell of anger at his statement. She yelled out after him, "Fine, go sulk by yourself then! You're putting a damper on my day anyways!" With a loud huff, the warrior turned sharply on her heels and went the opposite direction. Before she got anywhere far, however, she heard a familiar voice call her name.

"Alice! Alice!"

She turned around and saw Xin running up to her. Immediately, she felt her anger retreat and be replaced with the sweet feeling of joy. "X-Xin! I thought...-"

"You'd never see me again?" he asked, laughing lightly. Grinning, he placed his arm around her shoulders and looked down at her face. He noticed her slightly annoyed expression and immediately he asked, "I'm sorry, did I intrude on a bad time?"

"Ah, no no! Of course not! I mean...I just...sorta got in a fight with my partner," she admitted to him.

"With your platoon leader?"

Alice nodded slightly. "He's being so frustrating all of a sudden. And...it's just all confusing."

Xin tilted his head slightly in thought and finally exclaimed, "Well then! I know just the cure for you!"

"Eh?"

* * *

"It's nice to see you like it," Xin smiled as he watched Alice scarf down a large banana chocolate sundae.

She swallowed a large chunk of ice cream and couldn't help, but giggle. This was the first time in a while that she ate something like a sundae. "Did you want some Xin?"

"Oh, I'm fine. After all, I'm treating you to it," he replied, propping his elbow up on the table and resting his head on his hand.

"Eh? Oh...you never told me..." Alice felt slightly guilty for ordering one of the most expensive desserts the small restaurant had to offer.

Xin chuckled and picked up a plaid patterned cloth napkin. "I wouldn't have brought you here if you were the one that was going to pay." He leaned forward slightly and wiped away a bit of chocolate that was smudged on Alice's cheek. "Besides, it's worth every meso to see Alice's cute expressions while she eats."

A pink blush slowly made its way up to Alice's face. She let out another soft giggle and nervously tucked a piece of her blue hair behind her ear. "I-I probably looked weird while I was eating."

"What?" Xin asked, taking his head off from his hand. "I meant it when I said you looked cute. I haven't seen a more cute girl than Alice." He flashed a handsome smile which nearly made Alice drop her spoon. She quickly looked away from him clear blue eyes and stirred the puddle of melted ice cream and chocolate syrup that laid at the bottom of the glass sundae bowl. She honestly didn't know how to react to something like that since she's never been told before that she even looked remotely cute or attractive for that matter.

"I-I don't know what to say," she admitted.

"Hm? You've never been told you looked cute before?"

"Ah well...no one really paid attention to me at the Academy. All the guys thought I was either too manly since I was training to become a warrior or they all thought I was a nerd for being at the top of my classes," she said with a slight laugh. "And Dante..." Alice stopped when she remembered what he told her when they first met.

_"At least they could've given me someone prettier." _

A mixture of anger and sadness bubbled up inside of her. It left a bad taste in her mouth as she slowly began to recall all the names Dante called her and how he ridiculed her every step of the way. Her eyes were starting to sting with tears, but she knew she couldn't cry in front of Xin. Who knows what he might think of her?

"Hmm, it seems like the sundae didn't help," Xin muttered sadly. He immediately perked up at a new idea. "Alice! Want to see something amazing?" he asked, standing up from his chair.

"Huh?" she questioned, feeling the stinging sensation in her eyes receding. He went around the table and grabbed her hand. "Come on! I'll show you!" He tossed a small bag of mesos on the table as payment for the sundae and quickly ran out of the restaurant, dragging Alice along behind him.

"Ah, wait! Xin! Where are we going?"

With a playful grin, Xin turned his head and told her, "You'll see!"

They ran through the marketplace, bumping into various people. But Xin didn't seem to be fazed by the amount of people that complained. Despite all this, Alice couldn't help but laugh. She felt truly happy for once since the war started. In all honesty, she didn't quite know herself on why she felt so happy just being with Xin.

"Here we are!" Xin exclaimed once they arrived at the Henesys park. He promptly let go of her hand and went around behind her. Much to her surprise, he covered her eyes with his hands. "Well, we're not exactly there yet. I'll lead you to it okay? Trust me."

Alice simply nodded and carefully walked to where ever Xin led her. She heard the laughter of children diminish as she walked on. Soon the usual chatter of the park died down and all she could hear was the rustling leaves of the trees around them.

"Okay, look." Xin took his hands away and Alice opened up her eyes. There before her was a small bunch of rare white violas growing at the base of a maple tree. They glowed vibrantly as the sunlight hit them. Astonished, Alice fell to her knees and leaned forward to touch their soft petals.

"Xin, how? I mean, I thought these flowers only grew deep in the Dungeons."

"They do. Which is why I was so surprised like you are right now, when I found this little bunch growing here a few months ago. I guess no one comes to this section of the park since a lot of iron pigs like to come here once in a while." He knelt down beside her and reached towards the flowers. He plucked out three cleanly by the stems and held them out towards Alice. "Don't worry, they grow back really fast," he said with a smile. Before Alice could take them in her hands, Xin took the three white violas and placed them in her blue hair. "Wow, I didn't think Alice could get any prettier!"

Blushing, Alice reached up to touch the flowers that were resting just above her right ear. "I can't be _that_ pretty."

"But you are! If any guy ever told you otherwise, he's probably blind."

The polearm warrior gently hugged herself while smiling. She did feel slightly overwhelmed by Xin's compliments, but nevertheless, they made her happy. "Th-Thank you Xin. Oh that's right, what are you doing in Henesys? Last time I saw you, you were on the boat ride to Orbis."

"Oh that," Xin chuckled. He suddenly looked around to see if anyone was near. Afterwards, he leaned in towards Alice so that he could whisper into her ear. "Don't tell anyone else this, but I'm a part of the reconnaissance platoon for the Aegis." He pulled away and smiled as he placed his index finger over his lips. "It's suppose to be a secret that I'm with the reconnaissance. I trust you to keep my secret safe, okay?"

"I will," Alice stuttered out. "But why does Athena want to keep whoever is in the reconnaissance a secret?"

"She sends each of the members out on special intelligence gathering quests. The type of information we get from our allies or moles is very sensitive material. If anyone knew who we really were, they would know where to get the information from. Unfortunately, that is all I can tell you Alice. Anymore and Athena might have my head!" he joked.

"No, it's fine. I don't want to get you in trouble for telling me this." She looked over him and asked, "I'm guessing you haven't been assigned any quests?"

"Hm? Oh, I just came back from a quest just yesterday. Athena told me I could rest for a few days before she sends me out again." Xin looked down at his own body and pulled at the lightweight, blue cotton sleeveless top he was wearing. "Does it seem a bit odd to see me without all that heavy armor on?" he asked Alice, slightly widening his crystal blue eyes. The female warrior quickly shook her head in response. Xin smiled at this and reached out to rub Alice on the head. "You're quite honest, Alice. I like that in a girl."

Alice bowed her head down and felt her heart drum away at her chest. She liked how his huge, warm hand rested on top of her head. As much as she wished for it to stay there longer, he pulled his hand away. "It's getting a bit late, isn't it?"

The blue haired girl looked up at the sky and saw that already the sun was beginning to sink down the horizon and the skies were painted in different hues of pink and orange. "Oh, I didn't realize it had become that late already." Before she could stand up however, Xin reached forward and released the leather belt latch that held Alice's polearm to her back. She felt the heavy weapon fall to the ground behind her with a low thump.

"I'll walk you back home, okay? And I'll carry this along." He stood up and slung the leather belt over his shoulder. "I'm sure you're exhausted from carrying a heavy thing like this for the whole day."

"We-Well, I got used to it I guess," she giggled while sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. Xin helped her up and flashed another warm smile.

He took her arm and said in awe, "I guess you learned how to distribute your weight with your weapon very well. You're arm is so thin!" he said with a light hearted laugh.

"Ah, really? I always thought I was kind of muscular. At least...that's what Dante always told me," Alice mumbled. "But, he can't even carry my weapon and he even complained to me that it was too heavy. Although, that's not as weird as when I tried to pick up his bow. It felt a bit heavy."

"That's because his bow was not meant for you, neither is your polearm meant for him. The higher quality the weapon is, the harder it is for other classes to handle the weapon. It's strange isn't it?" Xin chuckled. He faced Alice and told her, "Your partner wields an Arund, right? It's a high quality weapon and unless a seasoned archer like himself is holding it, it will seem as if it is extremely heavy. The same goes for your Eviscerator."

"I see. I must've forgotten about that lesson when they taught it at the Academy." Alice let a sheepish laugh. "Good thing I'll be going back there tomorrow!"

Xin laughed lightly at her. "I suppose so."

They soon got to Alice's house. She looked at comfy mushroom home and let out a soft sigh. It felt good to be back home after her long trip out to El Nath. Alice turned towards Xin and thanked him for walking her all the way. He smiled as he handed her back her weapon. However, before she could go inside he asked, "do you think you'll be doing anything tomorrow? I mean, besides teaching at the Academy."

"Huh?"

"If you have time, I'd love to train with you. I could try giving you some pointers as well."

The blue haired girl simply nodded rather dumbly in response. She felt a blush work its way up to her cheeks just as Xin flashed another handsome smile. "That's great!" he exclaimed. "Well then, I'll meet you outside of the Academy. Okay?"

"O-Okay," Alice stuttered out. She watched him leave and she stood there for a while well after he disappeared from her sight. Finally, she covered her mouth with her hand and let out a excited squeal. "It's a date, right? He asked me out so...so..." A broad grin decorated Alice's face. She resisted the urge to jump up and down right then and there. It was her first time she had ever experienced anything like this and she didn't want to trade this euphoric feeling for anything else in the world. Calming herself down, she knocked on the door to her house and waited for someone to open it.

The wooden door swung open and revealed Minna. She seemed rather worried about something, but she immediately focused her attention on the small white flowers in Alice's hair. "Where did you get those?"

"It's a long story," Alice assured her. Nonetheless, Minna ushered her inside and closed the door behind them.

"Did Athena give you these?" the cleric asked, gently touching the soft white petals of the violas. "They're really rare!"

"Of course not!" responded Alice, laughing lightly.

"Oh! Did Dante give you these?" Minna asked excitedly.

The female warrior's smile died down a bit and she looked away. "Of course not...he has no reason to."

The orange haired magician noticed this and quickly apologized. "I'm sorry Alice! I shouldn't have jumped to such an assumption!"

"No, it's fine." Alice muttered. She mustered up a weak smile and quickly attempted to change the subject. "Oh? Are you going out Minna?" she asked, noticing how the magician had a thin shawl draped over her shoulders.

Minna nodded. "I'm afraid I have some business to attend to," she laughed rather nervously as she went over to the kitchen counter. She grabbed the handle of a woven basket and adjusted the red checkered cloth over the mysterious contents that were kept hidden.

"Do you want me to go with you? It's getting dark outside."

"N-No, no! I'll be fine!" Minna insisted. She smiled rather innocently as she brushed past Alice. "I cooked up some dinner for you. It's on the stove. Oh and Sean's already asleep. He seemed tired after he got back from the Academy."

"Ah...okay," Alice mumbled. Before Minna left, the warrior turned around to ask again, "are you sure you'll be alright?"

"I'll take the safest route to my destination," said Minna with a soft giggle. "I'll try to be back before midnight, okay?"

* * *

Minna felt her heart thump wildly in her chest. She tightly held the woven handle of the basket as she silently made her way towards the underground prisons. The slightest bit of guilt lingered at the base of her throat. She didn't like the fact that she was going to see Ivan without telling neither Alice nor Dante, but she knew if she did tell them they would prevent her from seeing him at any means necessary.

After running for a few minutes, Minna stopped to catch her breath. She held a hand over her chest and looked down at the ground. "What am I doing?" she whispered to herself. _"Why do I want to see him so badly?"_ Minna thought to herself as she continued toward the prisons at a walking pace this time. Her thoughts continued to drift around Ivan. "I...I'm just going to thank him for saving me from Si Hua, that's it!" Minna reassured herself, picking up her pace. "Mhm, that's definitely the reason why! There's nothing to it other than that!"

She made her way to the entrance gates. It felt desolate and cold there as Minna walked up to the guard. He was a towering man, fully clad in black iron armor with a sharp steel polearm in one hand.

"Turn back, Miss. This isn't a place for you to wander around at night," he said in a rough voice.

"Ah, uhm...well, I'm just here to visit someone."

"We don't hold regular prisoners here, Miss. Only prisoners of war. If you want to visit someone, go to the prisons on the other side of town."

"Please, I'm with the Aegis. I just want to visit a prisoner that was put here today!" she pleaded. However, Minna knew he would never let her pass seeing as how he replied sternly to her once more.

"Only platoon leaders have clearance to meet with the prisoners here. I've been ordered to let no one else in."

Minna lowered her head sadly. "I underst-"

"Minna! Is that you?" a bright, cheerful voice sounded from behind her.

The cleric raised her head and turned around. She recognized the young man that was walking up to her. "Cedric?" she asked.

"Who else?" He grinned as he walked up to her. Noticing the situation before him, he asked, "did you want to go see someone inside?" The orange haired cleric seemed a bit hesitant upon answering his question, but she finally nodded.

Cedric motioned for her to step aside. Once Minna did he walked up to the guard and stated, "I want to go see a prisoner with this lovely lady here." Cedric turned around and took Minna by the wrist. "Will that be alright?" he asked with a smile. He moved his arm slightly so that the side of his arm could be seen. The guard noticed the black Aegis flame that was tattooed on the bandit's upper arm. Without a word, the guard unlocked the gate to the underground prison and let them pass.

Once inside, Minna gratefully thanked Cedric. "Thank you so much!"

Brushing aside his green colored bangs, Cedric let out a laugh. "It's fine. I should help out one of Ada's friends once in a while, right? By the way, why did you want to come here anyways?"

The cleric hesitated again before answering, "please don't mention this to Dante or Alice or anyone!"

"I won't say a word. I promise." Cedric raised an eyebrow and asked, "are you here to see the prisoner that you guys brought today?"

Minna nodded.

"Ada did tell me that it seemed like you got close to him." The bandit chuckled as he held a hand over his mouth. "He isn't some huge, hulking beast is he? That's what most of Krylin's underlings look like."

"N-No! He's just...he's just a guy and I...I wanted to thank him for saving me." Without Minna's own knowledge, her cheeks began to turn a slight pinkish color. Cedric took notice of this and smiled. However, he didn't say a word about it.

They both walked further and further down into the prison. Minna discreetly glanced inside some of the cells and only saw the dark silhouettes of the prisoners. She looked away before they caught her staring at them. When they finally arrived at a single steel door, Cedric reached for the key that hung just beside it.

"H-How do you know it's the right cell?"

"The most recent prisoners are put in the bottom-most level of the prison. I'm pretty sure this is his cell anyways," Cedric replied with a smile. He gently put the key inside of the small keyhole and turned. A lock clicked and the door opened with a low groan.

Minna looked inside and saw that it was indeed Ivan. She turned to Cedric and asked, "could you close the door? I think I'll be fine."

"Sure. Just knock when you're ready to leave. I'll be right outside."

The cleric stepped inside of the cell and heard the door close behind her. She stood there silently, holding her breath. From the sound of his light breathing, she assumed he was sleeping. From the lack of light in the small cell, she could only make out that he had his wrists cuffed and chained to the wall. There was nothing else in the cell except for a dimly lit lamp that hung from the ceiling.

Shyly, Minna took a step forward and then another step. She soon got in front of him and gently she knelt down. A small smile played upon her face as she watched him sleeping. His expression seemed calm and his face almost seemed effeminate. Her eyes, however, lingered on the black cloth that was covering his right eye. She was curious as to see if he had anything wrong with that eye. As she reached out, Ivan quickly grabbed her wrist. The chains made a little noise as Ivan whispered, "what are you doing here?"

Minna, taken aback by his sudden action, stuttered out, "I-I only wanted to see if you were okay."

"Of course I am," Ivan muttered, letting go of her wrist. "It's not like I'll die from whatever they decide to do with me."

"You won't, but...won't you still feel pain?"

"I don't care. I was conditioned to take it."

"Conditioned?" Minna asked.

Ivan looked at her. "You ask a lot of questions, don't you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry...I'm just..." She trailed off and quickly attempted to change the subject. "Oh! That's right!" Minna reached for the basket she had brought along and revealed its contents. "I baked these earlier! I don't know if you'll like it, but I wanted you to try some!" Minna pulled out one of the small blueberry tarts and held it out to him.

The gunslinger looked at the tart and mumbled, "you do know they give me food here."

"I know, but...it's probably in small portions and it probably doesn't taste all too good."

Too stubborn to admit it openly, Ivan kept silent. However, he opened his mouth slightly so that Minna could slip the bite sized tart in his mouth. She smiled while he ate it. "It's good, isn't it?" Minna giggled when he opened his mouth slightly again, silently asking for another tart. "Did you ever eat these before?" she asked, sliding the tart into his mouth. In response, he shook his head a little. "Hmm, how about cupcakes?"

Once again, Ivan shook his head.

"Ehh? Really? Then, how about cakes? Or pies?"

Ivan shook his head again. "Do those taste like the...?" At a loss for what to call the things that Minna fed him, he glanced over at the now empty basket.

"...tarts?" Minna finished for him. When Ivan nodded, the female magician giggled. "If you mean they taste sweet, then yes. I'll bring some tomorrow if you want." Minna quickly added in afterwards, "b-but you don't have to eat them if these tasted terrible! I don't want to force you to eat anything that tastes bad to you."

"It's fine," the pirate mumbled, turning his head away. He felt a bit embarrassed by the fact that he actually liked the tarts that were fed to him. "I-I don't mind."

"Really?" Minna wore a big grin on her face. "Then I'll bring you some more tomorrow!" Happily, she stood up and brushed off the dirt on her white color Calaf dress and grabbed the empty basket. Before she left the small cell, she stopped in front of the door and took one last look at Ivan. "Ah...uhm..." Minna nervously gripped the handle of the basket. "Thank you...for saving me the other day. I don't think I properly thanked you yet." Without waiting for a reply, Minna swiftly turned around and knocked on the cell door.

Ivan sat there in the darkness silently until she was gone. He stared at the cell door for a while before lying down on the hard ground. "It wasn't anything special," he muttered softly. A light fluttering sensation briefly passed through his chest. He brought his hand up and rested it over his heart. "How odd..."

* * *

Another puff of air came out from Alice's mouth. She hugged herself tightly as she stood at the front steps of the Academy. It was still early in the morning with the sun barely peeking out from behind the high hills surrounding Henesys. Alice sighed again and attempted to keep herself warm.

"Jeez, where's Dante? Classes are going to start soon."

The female warrior waited and waited until the surroundings became brighter with the sun finally rising out from behind the hills. She eventually had to move away from the entrance because of the students that were slowly going into the building. Every once in a while, Alice looked around for Dante and still saw no sign of him. By now, most of the students were already in class and ready to begin their lessons.

"Young lady?"

Alice turned around to see an elderly man, who she assumed was an instructor, walk up to her. "Ah, yes?"

"Are you a student?"

"No, I'm just waiting here for my partner. We're supposed to be teaching here starting today."

"Oh! I see! You're the new instructors Athena told us about. Well then, you must be Alice?"

She nodded.

"Ah! And you must be Dante," the man exclaimed, looking past Alice.

The warrior turned around and saw Dante just a few feet away from her. She waited until the old man finished his greetings and started to lead them both into the school.

"Where were you?" Alice whispered under her breath.

"Why do you need to know? It isn't any of your business."

"It _is_ my business because you're my partner!" As much as Alice wanted to press the matter further, she was interrupted by the elderly instructor.

"I'm assuming both of you are graduates of this Academy?"

"Yes," both Alice and Dante answered.

The old man turned around, stopping them. He turned his attention towards Alice and told her, "are you good with little children?"

"Eh?" Alice asked, slightly taken aback by the sudden question. "Uhm, I suppose. I do have a younger brother..."

"Perfect! We needed an instructor for the younger children. As for you Mr. Kyudo, you will be teaching the older students since they are the closest to graduating. I'm sure they'll benefit greatly from the direct instruction of a platoon leader. The class unit you will teach will be B-2. For you Miss Everard, it will be unit A-5. I'm sure the two of you can find those classrooms without any problems?"

"Of course," Dante responded. He waited until the elderly instructor left them before he turned to Alice. "Don't do anything that'll embarrass me, okay?"

"What? How could I do something that'll embarrass you?" Alice asked, fighting the strong urge to hit him.

"You're my martyr and if you do something ridiculous, I'll be known as the platoon leader with the bird-brained partner."

Before Alice lost to her own temper, Dante walked away. She clenched her teeth and watched him until he turned a corner. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she gave the wall next to her a strong punch. Her knuckles ached immediately afterwards, but she felt her anger recede just a bit.

In trembling voice Alice whispered, "Dante, you idiot..."

* * *

**A/N **_Next chapter will be a random "filler" chapter. _

_Also, the next few chapters will have probably have very little "action" in them. Yes, this is the part when it gets all romance-y _

_On the additional note, I finally fixed up my Word program so I'll finally be able to do some decent editing to the previous chapters that have lost their dividers and the overall grammar that needs to be corrected in each one. _

_As always, read and review. Reviews motivate this lazy bum to write more. _

_

* * *

_

**Alice Everard**

_Age: 16 years old  
Gender: Female  
Height: 5 foot 8 inches (173 cm)  
Weight: 121 pounds (55 kilograms)  
Eye color: Blue/Light blue  
Hair color: Blue  
Class: Spearman  
MapleStory in-game level (roughly): Level 50-60_

_Background: _During her Academy years, Alice was at the top of her class. Although, she has a hard time applying what she has learned to various situations during her quests. This led Dante to initially believe that she didn't really graduate at the top of her class. Her only sibling is her younger brother, Sean. They both live together in Henesys. Alice's father is deceased. He was a part of the Aegis, but died during a quest. Her mother rarely visits them because she works in Ossyria. Her mother disliked her father for joining the Aegis. Because of this and the fact that she is almost never around, Alice has grown a strong dislike for her mother.

She has a complex about the fact that she is a female warrior. She thinks this is the reason why no one bothered to think of her as a love interest.


	17. Various Feelings

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Hermit  
_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

_

* * *

_

**Aegis **

**Chapter 17: Various Feelings**

It was already midday. The sun had risen up high into the sky and the warm rays flooded down onto the earth.

Alice was outside with the class she was supposed to be teaching. The little children ran around with their flimsy wooden swords, occasionally hitting each other with them.

"Please calm down! I need to teach you guys how to wield a weapon correctly…"

"Why do we have swords? I want to be a magician!" a young girl whined, throwing the wooden sword down forcefully.

"And I want to be a bandit!" a boy added in. Pretty soon, the small crowd of children began complaining about their desires to learn skills associated with the jobs of their choosing. Alice stammered, unable to form a complete sentence as she tried to calm everyone down.

"You all need to learn basic fighting techniques! They're very important!" The blue haired warrior felt frustration build up inside of her as the children continued to completely ignore her words. She continuously remembered what Dante had told her earlier. Bitterly, she glared at the dirt ground. As stubborn as she was, Alice refused to let Dante gain any sort of victory over her. With this newfound drive, the blue haired warrior let out a deep sigh and shouted over the children. "Okay, listen up! I refuse to teach you guys anything if you continue to act this way! It doesn't matter what job you want to take up once you get older, what matters is that you have a solid foundation for the basics! Got it?"

The young student silently nodded their heads in response, completely stricken with fear with Alice's sudden outburst.

Seeing this, Alice let a proud smile work its way onto her face. "Now then, shall we start with today's lesson?"

* * *

The sweet smell of baked goods filled the small mushroom house.

Minna hummed absent-mindedly as she happily made her way around the kitchen. Occasionally, she would put a little twirl in between her steps as she went back and forth between the counter and the oven. Finishing up the batter, Minna dipped her finger into the creamy solution and tasted it. She giggled happily when the batter tasted just right.

"I'm sure he'll like these!" Minna exclaimed as she began humming a light tune.

However, before she could pour the batter into a pan, a loud abrupt knocking sound of heard from the door. Startled, Minna nearly dropped the batter filled bowl before she hurriedly went to open the door.

"Alice? Alice, are you there?"

Minna quizzically raised an eyebrow as she hesitated on opening the door. It was an unknown male's voice.

"Alice? It's Xin! I was just wondering..."

The orange haired cleric slowly opened up the door and peeked her head out. "C-Can I help you?"

"Oh?" Xin took a step back to take a look at the house and then looked back at Minna. "Uh, Alice does live here right?"

Minna nodded quickly. "She's not home at the moment."

"Ah, I see..."

Seeing his distraught expression, Minna cleared her throat and told him, "if you really want to meet her, she's over at the Academy right now. I think she and Dante got assigned to teach there for a while."

"Really? Thanks...!" Xin hesitated at the end of his sentence for he was at a loss at how to address Minna properly.

"You can just call me Minna," the cleric said, opening up the door a bit more seeing as how Xin didn't seem like a dangerous person.

"Xin," the black haired crusader stated with a boyish smile playing upon his face. "Well, thanks for the info Minna! See you around?"

Minna smiled back and nodded. She waved him off as he walked away. Before she went back inside the house however, Minna stood there cupping her chin. "I wonder if he's the one that gave Alice those flowers yesterday," she muttered to herself. Finally she simply shrugged. "I'm sure Alice will tell me sooner or later." The cheerful cleric happily went back into the house, deciding to leave such matters for another day. For now, all that was on her mind was her meetings with Ivan.

* * *

"Good! You're doing really well!" Alice commented as a young boy swung the wooden sword around almost aimlessly. He blushed at the compliment and continued to swing the sword around with much vigor.

Pleased with how motivated all the children were with their basic training, Alice let out a sigh of relief and tilted her head back to look up at the sky. A few puffy white clouds lazily drifted across the pale blue canvas. Before Alice could fall into another daydream, she heard a familiar voice call out her name from behind.

"Alice!" Xin called out, running up to her.

A slight shock went though Alice's body when she saw him. "Xi-Xin? What are you doing here?" She blushed when he flashed her a playful grin. Suddenly widening her eyes, Alice exclaimed, "oh no! I didn't miss our meeting time, did I?"

Xin laughed softly at Alice's flustered expression. "Of course not. Don't worry about that. It turns out that I ended up having more free time than I thought for today, so I was just wondering if you wanted to start our training session right now."

"Ah, well...Athena has assigned me to teach here..."

"Oh, then I'll just wait until you're done with class?"

Alice bit her bottom lip and quickly grabbed Xin's wrist before he left. "I could leave right now, I mean..."

"...And who's permission do you have for leaving right now?"

The female warrior turned around and narrowed her eyes when she saw that it was Dante. She looked away from him as he walked up to her. "It's nothing," she mumbled.

"Like hell, it's nothing. You should know better than to lie to your platoon leader, much less directly disobey his orders." Dante turned his attention to Xin and told him, "sorry, but she needs to stay here until the classes end."

"...I wasn't disobeying your orders," Alice whispered under her breath.

"What...?" Dante asked, slightly unsure of what he heard from her.

She raised her head and looked at Dante directly in the eyes. "I said I wasn't disobeying your orders."

The archer glared at her. "Are you stupid? I clearly said..."

"It wasn't you who ordered me to stay here! It was Athena! You never ordered me to do anything! I don't care if you're my platoon leader, I'm leaving!" In a defiant act, Alice forcefully pulled Xin along and broke into a full run. She didn't even bother looking back to see if Dante was chasing after them. It wasn't until Xin pleaded that they stop, did Alice slow down to a walk.

"Alice, was it really okay for you to do that?" the crusader asked, still being pulled along by the wrist. "I don't want you to get in trouble all because of me."

"It's fine," mumbled Alice, slowing down to a full stop. She dropped her head and let go of Xin. "It's not like Dante _really_ cares either way." A burning sensation began to fill her chest and rise up her throat slowly. Alice clenched her fists and wished for it to go away before she either burst into tears or went into a fit of rage right in front of Xin.

The black haired man noticed this and quickly attempted to get her mind off of Dante. "Well, we should go get our weapons right?"

"Huh? O-Oh, yeah of course."

"How about we meet each other at the training grounds in ten minutes? Sound good?" he asked.

Alice nodded. She promptly squeezed her eyes shut when Xin reached out to pet the top of her head.

"Why'd you shut your eyes for? You didn't think I was going to hit you or anything, right?" Xin chuckled. He touched the clip on the back of Alice's head that held her long blue hair up. "Alice should cut her hair," he suggested.

"I-I should?"

Xin nodded, flashing her a boyish grin. "You already look cute, but you'd be even cuter if you had short hair."

Alice felt her cheeks heat up at the crusader's warm compliments. "I-I see..."

"Well, we should probably get our weapons to go train. I'll see you in a bit!"

The female warrior watched him leave. She smiled shyly and turned around to go towards her own house. Subconsciously, she took a lock of her blue hair and rubbed the strands in between her fingers. "Should I cut my hair?" she muttered to herself. The idea continued to linger inside of her head until she got to the house.

Before she could step inside however, a sweet smell floated around the cozy mushroom home. She knocked and curiously asked, "Minna? Are you there?" Alice heard a clattering noise from inside before the door finally opened.

"Oh Alice! Did you meet Xin on your way here?" Minna asked.

"Xin? Yeah, I did."

"Oh good," the cleric replied happily. "He seemed pretty anxious to meet with you. Could it be that he likes you?" Minna asked, excitement rearing in her voice. She giggled when Alice blushed wildly.

"He-He wouldn't!" The warrior brushed past Minna to get inside. She ran up the stairs, but she heard Minna trailing behind her.

"I think Xin likes you," Minna stated when they both got into Alice's room.

"I don't know about that." Alice gently picked up her Eviscerator polearm and grabbed the leather strap that held it to her back. "He...just said I was cute. Nothing else."

"Eh? That's good if he compliments you!" The orange haired girl looked around the room and spotted the pure white flowers that Alice had brought home yesterday. "Those flowers...it was Xin that gave them to you, right?" she exclaimed. When Alice didn't say a word, Minna giggled. "This is great Alice! Xin must really, really like you!"

A fluttering feeling resided in Alice's stomach. She couldn't help, but smile at Minna's words. Frankly, she wished what Minna was saying was true.

* * *

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Alice exclaimed as she ran up to Xin. She rested her hands on her knees and panted, trying to catch her breath.

Xin waved it off. "It's fine! I don't think you were all that late."

The blue haired girl blushed when she saw him flash another handsome smile at her. "S-So...where do we start?"

"How about I look over your stances?"

"Stances?"

"They're very important for a warrior. Stances can help maintain a balance in weight and it could also help with dealing more powerful blows."

Intrigued, Alice jumped right into the lesson that Xin was about to teach her. He taught her more about weight distribution and fixed up any stances that she was doing wrong.

"You should hold your polearm like this," he said, standing directly behind Alice. He wrapped his warm hands over hers and fixed the dark blue polearm's position into the correct one. "See? You won't lose your balance as often if you stand like this."

"O-Oh, I get it." Alice felt her mind leave the actual training and more on the fact that Xin's body was so close to hers. She blushed when he moved closer, his chest making contact with her back.

"Make sure you're putting equal power into both of your hands. If it's uneven, the blow you deliver to the enemy won't be as powerful as you need it to be."

She leaned over forward slightly. It was nearly unbearably embarrassing to have Xin's voice directly in her ear, as well as having him so close so that she could feel his body heat.

"I think you should lean back more, like this." Xin gently grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back towards him. Alice tried to hide her growing blush, which she was sure that it made her whole face red. Her heart pounded relentlessly against her chest as he continued to guide her through the stances. To be frank with herself, Alice knew that by the end of the lesson that she had learned absolutely nothing. The only thing that was on her mind was Xin. His boyish charm, his handsome looks, the tone of his voice, the way he would smile whenever he met eyes with her...everything about him made Alice go weak in the knees.

"I hope you understand the stances a little bit better. They'll help loads when you're facing an enemy that's much bigger than you."

"Ah...uhm, yeah! It was really helpful! Thanks!" Alice exclaimed, rubbing the back of her head. She looked away from him, ashamed that she hasn't learned a thing from his useful lesson.

Xin laughed and walked up to her. He gently took her by the shoulders and kneaded them with his strong, rugged hands. "I taught you this because I don't want to see you getting seriously injured. Your body seems so fragile, Alice."

"We-Well...I've taken strong hits before. I didn't really get injured that badly," she sheepishly laughed.

"You can't be too careful now, right?" The black haired crusader smiled. He turned his attention towards the sky and saw that it was painted over with a soft pink and orange glow from the setting sun. "Ah, I didn't realize it had gotten this late. Time flies, doesn't it?" he chuckled. Alice laughed along with him. Xin took her hands and gave them a tight squeeze. "Hey Alice?"

"Uh...ye-yes?" She mentally slapped herself for sounding completely ridiculous with her stuttering.

"I was just wondering...do you have time to go out the day after tomorrow?"

"Eh?"

"It's completely up to you of course!" Xin quickly added in. "I thought we could spend some more time together. I like it when I'm with you." He smiled almost innocently, which made Alice nearly lose control and simply hug him right there on the spot.

"I...I'm sure I have time." She mustered up a small smile. "Will we be training again?"

Xin shook his head and chuckled. "No, no. I just want to take you around Henesys and if we have some extra time, I'd like to take you to Ellinea as well."

Alice, unable to contain her excitement, nodded happily and smiled. "I'd love that!"

"I'm glad," Xin replied, releasing her hands. He flashed her one last smile and pet the top of her head again. "See you then, alright?"

"Yes!" The female warrior waved to him goodbye and stood there in the middle of the empty training grounds for a long time in silence. She felt ecstatic by what had just happened. _"That was a date right? That was no doubt a date! He just asked out me on a real date!"_ Alice hugged herself tightly and smiled gently. She closed her eyes and fell back onto the grassy ground. Turning onto her side, Alice giggled as she played with the tufts of soft grass. _"Is this how love feels?" _

"Are you planning to sleep out here by yourself?"

Alice froze when she heard Dante's voice. She sat up and saw the archer standing just a few feet away from him. Immediately she glared at him and turned away. "What do you want?"

"I only came here to see that you didn't get in trouble with the stunt you pulled at the Academy today."

"Well, I'm fine," she spat out. "You could leave now if all you wanted to see was me getting in trouble."

Dante looked down at her and then looked away. "I'm guessing you didn't learn all too much from Xin's lesson?"

"Huh?"

The archer let out a scoff and shrugged his shoulders. "Of course you didn't. You were too busy staring at him."

Alice tried to ignore him as she stood up from the ground. She silently went to go pick up her weapon and fixed it onto the leather hold on her back.

"He seemed intelligent when he was helping you with those stances, but I really doubt it."

"What...?" The female warrior turned to face him.

Dante seemed indifferent as he walked up to her. He stood directly in front of her and stated, "only an idiot wouldn't have noticed you acting like a dumb, lovestruck teenager in front of him. Well, seeing as how he acts pretty indifferent towards you I suppose its safe to say...-"

The sharp sound of a slap rang through the air.

His red eyes widened slightly in shock, Dante kept his head turned towards the direction of which Alice had hit him. The sting of the slap was felt on his cheek and soon it ached slightly.

Alice's whole body trembled out of fear and anger. The hand that she used to hit him with, trembled the most. "You..." she started, "you can insult me all you want. I don't care if you call me ugly, stupid, or weak. But don't you dare insult Xin. He's a much better person than you'll ever be!" Her eyes stung with tears and pretty soon they were falling down her cheeks almost uncontrollably.

Dante heard this and turned his head slightly to look at her. The male archer looked away and muttered, "I...didn't...me-"

"I don't care! I don't want to listen to you anymore!" Alice shouted. She clapped her hands over her ears and held her head. Her vision blurred with tears to the point where she couldn't see anything clearly. Crying heavily, Alice shouted again, "I wish I never met you!"

"Alice..." Dante felt the sinking feeling of guilt fill his body. He reached out to touch her when he was met with another harsh retaliation.

Alice shoved him away with all the power she could muster. "Just," she choked out, unable to finish her thought. At a loss of words, she stood there simply letting her tears fall down to the grassy ground.

The black haired archer tried to comfort her again, but Alice stepped away. "Alice, I'm s-"

"I don't understand. Why are you here? Are you only here to make my life miserable...?"

"I...-"

The blue haired girl shook her head and took another step back. "Just leave me alone."

"Alice..."

"Leave me alone! Don't you get it? I never want to see your face ever again! I hate you!" she screamed. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" she repeated over and over. Alice squeezed her eyes shut. "I wish you just died already!" With that, she ran away from him before she could hear another word. She never looked back and ran straight out of the training grounds. It was starting to get dark and the streetlamps were not lit yet, for this Alice was grateful. She didn't want anyone to see her face as she cried.

"Stupid...Dante."

* * *

He watched her leave. Before he could say anything to her or even forcibly stop her, she was gone.

Dante clenched his fists and hit the nearest tree out of pure frustration. His hand felt numb and he knew it was bleeding, but that was the least of his worries. "Damn it," he whispered under his breath. Dante let out a harsh breath and and fell down. He sat upon the soft grass and stared at his bleeding hand. "Alice..." he muttered.

His red eyes flickered over to the spot where Alice had laid down earlier. He remembered what kind of expression she wore as she laid there. She seemed elated at the time. Dante lowered his head, remembering that gentle smile she had upon her face as she played with the grass. He could still hear her soft giggles as well.

Dante knew that he liked seeing her in such a happy state, but a strange feeling burned up inside of him when he also knew that her happiness was not because of him. He threw his hand down and ignored the aching pain coming from it. "Why am I always making you cry?" He clenched his teeth and cursed silently. "I don't want to see you cry anymore because of me. What the hell's wrong with me...Alice?"

* * *

**A/N **_Yes, I know..._

_Dante had it coming.  
_

_Anyways, I know that I said a filler will be in place, but I decided to submit it once I'm done with this story. One, I don't want to mess up the chapter numbers (haha), and two, this story is just BEGGING to be finished. So, I'll be finishing this story up in probably 5 to 10 more chapters. _

_Sorry this chapter's a bit short. I wanted to add more in, but it wouldn't have fit the "mood." Haha. _

_No character profile this time. ):_

_Thank you to those that reviewed! I really appreciate it!  
_


	18. Secret Lover

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Hermit  
_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

_

* * *

_**Aegis**

**Chapter 18: Secret Lover  
**

Alice didn't know how late it had gotten or how long she had been lying in her bed awake. She did know that once she had gotten home, Minna wasn't there and Sean was already fast asleep in his own room. Being tired and unwilling to explain anything in clear detail, Alice ran up to her room and had stayed in there since.

She sniffled and curled up into a tighter ball, her soft puffy white bed sheets surrounding her completely. The only opening in the bed sheet mass was for her face.

Quietly, she stared at the dazzling white flowers she had received from Xin a few days ago. They were placed in an empty glass milk bottle and the ends of the stems were submerged in water, keeping them alive for now. The pale moonlight made them seem to glow a soft blue. As she stared at them, she continuously asked herself why she was so upset over what had happened with Dante. She looked away from the flowers when she remembered his expression right after she had hit him and then after that, even if it was only a glimpse, his expression seemed to reflect that of guilt and regret.

_"Was I too harsh on him?" _

Alice shook her head and frowned. "No, no. He deserved it. All those names he called me, insulting me, insulting Xin...stupid Dante," she mumbled. However, as she continued to think about him, the good memories had begun to pop inside of her head.

She remembered the times that he would acknowledge her and go out of his way to protect her. Nearly each time he smiled at her, she remembered how much her heart jumped and how happy she felt whenever he did. Even while recollecting, Alice felt a blush creep up her cheeks. "Why?" she mumbled stubbornly, pulling the bed sheet over her face. "Why do you make me feel this way?"

* * *

"Does it taste good?"

Minna watched anxiously as Ivan took a small bite out of a frosted cupcake. A smile painted its way across her face when she saw the blond gunslinger silently eating away at the rest of the sweet treat. When he was done, he glanced up at her with his dark green eyes and asked, "aren't you going to eat some?"

"I can't!" she exclaimed, waving her hand in protest. "I made them specially for you! If I ate some, then it wouldn't be special anymore!"

Ivan took out another cupcake from the woven basket. He stared at it for a while before holding it out to Minna.

"Wh-What is it?" the cleric asked.

"It's weird."

"Weird? It tastes weird? Oh no, I knew I should've added in some more sug-"

"No, not that. It's weird that I'm the only one eating and all you're doing is watching me."

"Oh..." Minna blushed in embarrassment. She took a quick look at the cupcake, but turned away. "I-I told you, it wouldn't be special if I ate some."

"That doesn't make any sense."

The orange haired cleric shyly took the small treat from his hands. "It's only because you're so persistent!" Minna turned away and began eating. She had hoped the dim light of the torch in the cell would help hide her growing blush. As she was eating the cupcake, she felt Ivan staring at her, much to her embarrassment. When she was about to say something about it, Ivan spoke up before her.

"Are you sick?"

"Huh? Sick?"

"Or injured?"

"Why?"

Ivan tilted his head slightly in question. "Your face is all red."

Minna felt another rush of blood spike up to her head when she heard Ivan's comment. "It's nothing! I'm just fine!" she laughed, finishing up the small cupcake. "See?"

When he heard her giggle lightly again, Ivan felt the same light fluttering feeling coming back in his chest. He averted his gaze from her and dropped his arms to the ground, making the rusty metal chains jangle. "Don't you need to leave right now? You might get caught by a guard."

"Eh? No, I won't. Cedric has permission to come in here so he helped me get in."

"Won't Alice or anyone else become suspicious about you always staying out so late?"

Minna shook her head. "I just tell Alice that I have a few errands to run. Besides...I don't really mind if anyone else finds out that I'm coming to see you every night. Maybe they'll give you another chance and see that you're not dangerous."

Ivan scoffed lightly. "You're much too innocent. Do you really believe that I-"

"I do!" she retorted, even before Ivan could finish his sentence. "You've protected me back in El Nath and you took me back to Alice and Dante safely!"

"What? Is that all?" The pirate couldn't help, but chuckle at Minna's weak argument.

"Y-Yes! Well...there is something else," she mumbled under her breath. She looked up at Ivan and saw him looking at her. Immediately she felt her face go red. "It's nothing! Never mind!" In a rush, Minna grabbed the handle of the woven basket and bid Ivan farewell. "I-I'll try to come by again tomorrow! Bye!"

Ivan watched her leave again. He leaned back against the hard stone wall and raised a hand up to his chest. His heart was thumping wildly as if he had just ran many miles. In slight confusion, Ivan lowered his emerald green eyes to the ground and silently kept his hand on his chest until his heartbeat returned to its normal pace.

* * *

"Alice?..." Quietly Minna crept into the female warrior's room. She sighed when all she saw was a huddled mass of bed sheets on the bed. "Alice, wake up!" the cleric said in a sing song voice. "Alice!" she sang again, poking the huddled mass. "It's morning!"

Finally she heard a groan and Alice's head popped out from the ball of bed sheets. Minna smiled and held up a small basket. "Let's go!"

"Go...?" Alice rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Go where?"

"Well, I guess I made too many cupcakes yesterday! Even when I gave a lot away to Ada, Cedric, and your little brother, I still have extras."

"Minna, I don't really want to go out anywhere," Alice grumbled.

"Really? I wanted you to come with me to give these cupcakes to Dante."

The blue haired girl felt her heart stop at the mention of his name. "I-It's fine. I think I'm a bit sick today anyways." She sank back into her white sheets, coughing slightly for an added effect.

"Oh," Minna replied sadly. "I'll just go by myself then."

Alice let out an inaudible sigh and heard Minna leaving. She froze up once again when the cleric exclaimed, "Dante! Do you want a cupcake?" The warrior shot up from the bed and let out a harsh sigh of relief when she saw it was only her pet husky that Minna was referring to.

The orange haired girl giggled when the small puppy hungrily devoured the treat. "I think he likes them all too much!" She pet the black and white puppy on the head. "You didn't go out with Sean today?"

It only wagged its tail happily, hoping Minna would give it another cupcake.

"I got it!" Minna exclaimed. She set down her basket and lifted the small husky up. She brought it over to Alice and set it down at the foot of the bed. "Dante, you can stay here and help keep Alice company! She's sick so don't catch whatever it is she has."

The puppy's tail immediately stopped wagging when it locked eyes with Alice. However, Minna remained oblivious to it as she happily went out of the room. "Play nice you two!" she sang just before she left.

Alice frowned slightly when the husky continued to growl. "I think it was a mistake to name you 'Dante'." She picked the puppy up, despite the fact that it snapped at her. "Do you still hate me?" In response, it growled lowly. Alice set it down on her lap. "If you really hate me, why don't you just leave?" Much to her surprise, he stayed there sitting on her lap. Its growling stopped when she pet it affectionately on the head.

* * *

_Knock, knock._

"Dante? It's Minna. I brought you some cupcakes. I don't know if you'll like them but-"

Weakly, Dante slumped against the side of his bed. He vaguely felt the cold water droplets from his wet hair, drip down the nape of his neck. Minna's voice seemed far off as well when she continued to knock on the door. Dante breathed lowly as he pulled on the white towel that rested on his broad shoulders. Suddenly, he felt a twisting pain inside of him. He let out a sharp cry and went into a coughing fit.

"Dante?" Minna's voice sounded more panicked.

"Don't...come in," Dante said so weakly that he knew the cleric couldn't have heard him. The door handle trembled, turned, and the door itself flew open.

"Dante!" she exclaimed as she ran inside the small room. Minna immediately got down on her knees. "Dante! What's wrong? Are you sick?" She grew more frightened when the archer let out a violent cough and pulled his hand away from his mouth, only to reveal bright red blood staining his palm. "I-I'll heal you, okay? Stay still..." She placed her hands on the middle of his chest and started the healing process. It surprised her when she touched his skin. He felt extremely cold, as if he were frozen solid.

Just as the green healing aura engulfed Minna's hands, Dante hit her hands away. "Stop," he muttered. His expression seemed pained and he struggled to catch his breath.

"But, you're hurt-!"

"Your healing magic won't work." Dante coughed again. "I felt more drained when you tried to heal me just now."

"Then...what do I do? You're still in pain!"

Dante grabbed Minna's wrist. "Don't mention this to anyone."

"But-"

"I'll be fine. I'll get better soon." He coughed up a small amount of blood again and wiped away the remaining blood from his lips with the back of his hand. "Minna...don't talk about this with Alice."

"Why? She should know that you're hurt!"

Dante closed his eyes tightly. "Don't tell her," he said, enunciating each word as clear as he could. "I cause her enough grief as it is," Dante muttered almost inaudibly afterwards.

Minna looked at the archer worriedly for while. She hesitantly took the white towel that was around his neck and gently dried off his wet hair. "Alice will eventually find out about this you know."

"She already does. I felt like this when we were in El Nath. She just doesn't know that it's happening more frequently now." He opened his eyes and saw the room spinning, but he didn't tell Minna of this.

"Dante, promise me that you'll find a way to get better if this keeps going on. Alice will...Alice will be so worried if you end up in critical condition!"

Finding himself slipping in and out of consciousness, Dante whispered, "Alice might be better off if I wasn't around."

Minna took the towel off of Dante's head and clenched her fists. "Even though you two don't get along that well, you shouldn't say stuff like that! Alice cares about you and I know you care about Alice too!" She noticed Dante's eyes fluttering open and closed. A sigh escaped her lips as she pulled on his arm. "You should lie down. Does it still hurt?"

Dante shook his head slowly as he tried to stand up on his feet. "It doesn't, but-" He let out a sharp grunt when he tried to push himself off the floor with his right arm.

"What's wrong? Is your hand-?" Minna reached out to grab it and grimaced at his mangled, bloody hand. She carefully guided Dante to lie down on the bed and unraveled the thin bandage that was wrapped around his hand crudely. "What happened?"

Dante closed his eyes again. "I hurt it...while training," he lied.

The cleric knew that he had fractured some bones inside of his hand, along with the visible cuts and scrapes on his skin. "Be more careful next time! I can try healing at this point, but I think that all I'll be able to do is to speed up the healing process." Minna looked up and much to her surprise, saw that Dante was already fast asleep. She sighed, "already? You could've waited until I was done healing you."

* * *

Alice felt the cool morning breeze wash over her body as she got dressed for the day. She looked outside through the open window in her room and saw the sun just peeking out from behind the grassy hills surrounding Henesys. A little smile played upon her face as she pulled her black, skintight, long-sleeve shirt over her head.

For today, she decided to avoid Dante as much as possible. With any luck, she wouldn't even run into him while she was teaching. Thinking this was the best plan, Alice triumphantly gave a slight nod of her head and tied on her lightweight shoulder plates. "I'll just be looking forward to tonight. That's it. Nothing else." Letting out a long sigh, she clapped her hands over her cheeks and a look of determination decorated her face. "Okay!" she exclaimed as she strode out of her room.

When she got out into the small hallway, Alice nearly bumped into Minna.

"Oh! I'm sorry Alice!" the bubbly cleric exclaimed, looking very surprised.

"It's fine!"

Minna smiled, but then curiously tilted her head. "Are you going out somewhere?"

Alice nodded and passed her. "I need to teach at the Academy today!" she said as she ran down the stairs. "I'm pretty sure the instructors there will give me an earful for not coming in yesterday."

"You seem rather happy even though you know what might happen to you," Minna commented, following Alice down the stairs.

"Ah well," the female warrior grinned as she scratched the back of her head. Then suddenly out of the blue, Alice turned around and stated, "Minna, I've decided that I'm going to ignore Dante!"

"Eh?"

"All he does is cause me problems and make me feel terrible. Well, I'm not going to put up with it any longer. I'm going to ignore him completely!" Alice exclaimed, proud of her statement.

"Ah, but Alice...Dante he-" Minna was quickly cut off by Alice's departure.

"I'd better get going!"

"But Alice! Did something happen between you two? Both of you are acting so stran-!" Before she could even finish her sentence, Alice left the house, slamming the door shut behind her. Minna let out a drawn out exhale of breath. She dropped her gaze and subconsciously hugged herself. "Alice...I want to tell you, but Dante promised me not to..."

* * *

"I hope you realize how serious this situation is, Miss Everard!"

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Alice kept her head down as she stood before the headmaster of the Academy. She flinched when she heard the elderly woman sharply slap down her feather quill on the desk.

"Just for leaving early without permission and for not bothering to come in at all yesterday, you are asked to teach _a whole week_ more."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll be leaving then." However, before Alice could leave the small office, the door to the room opened up and the one person she didn't wish to see came walking in. Her mind went into a blank as she locked eyes with Dante. Her heartbeat quicken with anxiety as Dante continued to look at her. He finally looked away from her. For a second, Alice thought she saw a slight hurt expression on his face.

"Mr. Kyudo! Great timing! I can scold both you and your martyr for being complete slackers!"

Alice cringed as the female headmaster glared at them with her sharp, eagle-like eyes.

"I expected more out of the young _prodigy_, Mr. Kyudo. You are the platoon leader! You are supposed to keep an eye on your martyr and make sure she doesn't disregard her assignments!"

The warrior somewhat expected Dante to talk back to the elderly headmaster; she expected him to retort and place all the blame on her like he would have in the past. However, it surprised her when Dante kept his head down.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. "It was my fault."

"To add to that!" the headmaster shouted. "You too, left early and didn't even bother showing up yesterday as well! If you two think that disobeying Athena's words will somehow help you get out of his place, you're sadly mistaken! Mr. Kyudo, instead of one week like I gave your martyr, you're to stay here for another _two weeks_. Is that clear?"

Once again, Alice knew how much Dante had vocally protested against being an instructor at the Academy, so she expected him to argue with the headmaster about his two week sentence. Instead, he once again did the opposite of what she thought.

"I understand," he said quietly. "I'll make sure it won't happen again."

"You had better! Or else I'll do everything in my power to have Athena strip you of your platoon leader position!"

Dante nodded slightly and turned around to leave the office. Alice followed behind him, keeping her head bowed until she had stepped out. She shut the door behind her and found herself alone with Dante. Her heart thumped wildly again from the anxiety. Silently, she wondered to herself why she didn't bother to walk away. Perhaps deep inside, she really wanted to speak with Dante.

"Get to class before we get scolded again," Dante said, starting to walk away.

Alice held a tight fist over her chest. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. "U-Uhm..."

Dante stopped and turned around. He smiled rather sadly and told her, "you don't have to listen to me anymore though."

The warrior felt her heart ache slightly when she saw Dante's expression.

"You don't have to listen to me because...tomorrow, I'll go to Athena and tell her you want a new platoon leader."

A ringing noise began to fill Alice's ears. She stood there blankly as she tried to process what Dante had just told her. _"What? A new platoon leader?" _Alice stammered, "but...wh-why?" Her voice sounded higher than usual as she was still feeling shocked Dante would propose such a thing.

The answer Dante provided her was what shocked her the most. "...I don't want to make you cry anymore."

Alice felt a rush of blood go up to her cheeks. She quickly turned around and held a hand over her mouth. As awkward as it was, she simply ran away. She didn't know how to react to his answer and what she had to say in order to get him to think about his decision. Her eyes stung with the threat of tears, but she fought to hold them back knowing that she cried enough over the past few days. Alice got to the outdoor corridors and finally stopped beside a stone pillar. Her hands shook and she fought to control her breathing.

_"It's unfair...it's really unfair..." _

She clenched her teeth and buried her face in her hands. Images of Dante's heartbreaking smile played repeatedly inside of her head.

_"That's cheating...giving up is against the rules. How could you just give up?" _

Alice felt some loose tears fall down her face. She quickly wiped them away with the back of her sleeve. "I thought you would act like you normally would have. We've fought before Dante...so why is this time any different?" _  
_

* * *

The night set in rather quickly. A lot quicker than Alice would have liked for it to have.

She stood in front of the small vanity in her room, getting ready for her outing with Xin. Alice gently brushed her cyan colored hair. She set down the brush and ran her fingers through the soft locks.

_"You already look cute, but you'd be even cuter if you had short hair."_

Alice thought about what Xin had told her and had considered the idea. She did want nothing more than to look good for Xin tonight. Experimentally, she bunched up her long blue hair in a way that made it look like she had considerably shorter hair. Alice looked in the mirror and did find that she looked decent.

_"You look...better."_

She abruptly let go of her hair and let it cascade over her shoulders again. Alice suddenly began to remember what Dante had told her in El Nath. It was in reference to her hair being let loose after he released the clip that held it up. She blushed slightly at the memory of him combing out her hair with his fingers. Alice looked at herself again in the mirror again and let out a frustrated sigh. "Whatever," she muttered, shaking the memory from her head. Earlier, she had promised herself that she wouldn't think about anything else other than having a great night out with Xin.

"And that's what I'm going to do," she reiterated to herself.

Alice carefully tied her hair up into a side ponytail and wore the clothes Minna let her borrow for the night. She remembered the cleric's exact words.

_"Since you're going out on a date, you have to look your best to win him over!" _

The warrior held the light, blue frilled top in front of her. She slipped it on and despite how revealing it was, she decided to ignore her insecurities just for tonight. _"Just for tonight...I want to look my best, just for him." _Alice then slipped on a layered white skirt with a lacy blue ribbon on the side. Turning towards her vanity, she smiled back at her reflection. However, she still felt that something was missing. Reflected in the mirror, she saw the white violas that Xin had given her. Alice turned around and her face brightened up. She went over to them and took them out of the glass milk bottle. With gentle care, she tied them onto the ribbon that held her ponytail up. "Perfect," she said_. _

Slipping on some white, high heeled sandals, Alice left her room in a hurry. "Minna! I'm leaving!" she shouted as she ran down the stairs. Alice stopped halfway when she didn't hear a response. She got downstairs and saw Sean playing with her pet husky. "Sean? Do you know where Minna went?"

The young boy blinked his round blue eyes and replied, "I think she said she had to go out somewhere."

"Oh, I see."

"Are you going to go out too?" he asked, turning his attention back towards the black and white puppy.

Alice nodded. "I'll be back in a few hours, so take care of yourself okay?"

Sean grinned in a boyish manner. "I do whenever you and Minna are gone for the quests."

Smiling at his reassurance, Alice left the house. She looked around on the dark streets and saw only a few people out for the night.

"Alice!"

Instantly, Alice felt herself being uplifted just at the sound of Xin's voice. She turned around and greeted him happily. "Xin! I'm sorry, did I keep you waiting?"

"Hm? No, of course not!" He laughed. Xin took a slight step back and looked over her. "Wow Alice...you look really really pretty!"

At the compliment, Alice blushed and mumbled, "th-thanks!" She froze when he reached out to touch the white violas tied onto her white hair ribbon.

"These are the ones I gave you right?" he asked, smiling.

Alice nodded hurriedly.

Xin chuckled. "They're in great condition! You must've taken care of them well. I guess it's true that pretty girls always take good care of flowers. " He saw her bow her head in embarrassment. "It's true Alice! You're the cutest, prettiest girl I've seen!"

"Ah, no...don't say that," she found herself giggling softly at his words. It occurred to her that she felt like a girl around him. Alice looked up and saw Xin dressed in a very casual white dress shirt along with a pair of black, torn jeans. "U-Uhm! You look really nice too!" She wanted to tell him he looked unbearably handsome and mature, but she felt too shy to say those things to him directly. Alice heard Xin chuckle as he placed his hand on top of her head.

"As long as Alice thinks that, I'm glad." The crusader moved his hand down to her shoulder. "We should get started then, right? Even though I have scrolls to Ellinea, I have a lot to show you once we're there."

"O-Okay."

* * *

At night, Alice thought Ellinea looked more beautiful. The high trees seemed to shimmer as their rich green leaves caught the moonlight brilliantly. Occasionally, she saw a few fairies flying around. Their translucent wings left a sparkling trail behind them as they zipped around. In the distance, she heard a soft melody played by a harp.

"It's a good thing that Ellinea hasn't been taken over by Krylin. The fairies here have a strong will and the mages that reside here have powerful magic," Xin told her. "From the looks of it, it looks like you like this place." He chuckled when she snapped out of her daze and turned away.

"We-Well...maybe a little. I mean...I think it's pretty. I'd love to live here if it weren't for the fact that the houses are built on trees."

"Perhaps when the war is over, you could come live here. Although, it might be a bit lonely if you were to live here by yourself," Xin contemplated. "I guess that's why people get married, who knew?" He laughed at his own reasoning.

Alice fiddled with her hands when Xin suddenly mentioned that topic. Shyly, she asked him, "do you want to get married someday?"

The black haired man cupped his chin in thought. "Perhaps someday. It would be nice to marry Alice though!" he exclaimed.

"E-Eh?"

"I wish I could marry a girl like Alice. She would be kind and thoughtful and pretty..."

Alice nearly doubled over in embarrassment at what Xin was telling her. "I...I doubt I'll ever get married! I mean...I don't think anyone would want-"

"You will!" Xin intervened. He gently took her hand and whispered, "I think I'll envy the guy that will marry you in the future. Any guy would be lucky to have Alice as a wife."

"Eh...eh...well..." Alice took her hand away from him quickly and turned away. "W-Wow! Look at the moon up there! It's really bright!" she exclaimed, trying to break the embarrassing conversation. However, secretly she wished she could have coaxed him to continue until he let it slip that he had some sort of an attraction to her.

"Wow, you're right!" Xin said as he came up behind her. It seemed as though he had forgotten about the previous conversation rather quickly, much to Alice's disappointment. "I think we could go up to the highest tree to get a better look. How about it?" He took Alice's hand and waited for her response.

The blue haired warrior turned around and smiled. "Okay, sure."

* * *

The whole barracks seem to creak as Dante silently exited his room. He shut the door to his room behind him and walked down the long hallway. Just as he passed Cedric's room, the door swung open.

"Oh! Dante! Where are you going?" the green haired bandit asked. Cedric expected his friend to say something insulting or simply yell at him for being too loud, but all Dante did was look at him and then turn his head away.

"I'm just going for a walk," he muttered.

"At this time of night?"

Dante paused for a while before saying, "I need to clear my head." He walked past Cedric, who quickly left his room and followed his friend closely behind.

"Clear your head? Do you need to talk to me about something?" Cedric heard nothing from him. "You know what they say...better out than in!" In normal situations, Dante would have snapped out about how disgusting and immature that phrase was, but once again Cedric didn't hear a response of any sort. Letting out a deep sigh, the bandit ran up and slung his arm around Dante's shoulders. "You know what? To me, it seems like you're worried about some girl!"

Dante stopped walking. "...What?"

Cedric grinned rather slyly. "Ah, so I'm right! My intuition never ceases to amaze me! So...who is it?" He followed Dante out of the barracks and onto the streets of Henesys. They were walking for quite a long time before they found themselves in Mushroom Park. "Could it be...Alice?" He saw Dante looked away and pause slightly before answering.

"She hates me."

The green haired bandit watched his friend let out a frustrated sigh and sit down upon the edge of the water fountain. "I thought you hated her too. It seems that the feeling is mutual." Cedric took a seat next to the male archer.

"I...I don't know. I did. I thought I did. In the beginning I did," Dante continued to stammer. He groaned and buried his face in his hands. "I messed up," he finally said after another pause. "I messed up badly."

"In the beginning you say?" Cedric pressed on.

"She was annoying. She got in the way too much...I hated her, but-" Dante uncovered his face from his hands. However, he kept his mouth covered as he continued to speak. "But...I-I don't know."

Cedric smiled at his friend and looked up at the night sky. "I'm guessing this is the first time you've experienced anything like this?" He took note of the silence and turned back to Dante. Cedric let out a laugh and hit Dante on the back. "Aren't I right?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Hm, let me put it this way...you feel happy, but you don't know how to express it. You feel anxious and nervous around her, but most importantly, you feel comfortable when you're around her!"

"This is ridiculous," Dante muttered as he stood up from the fountain. He turned his back towards Cedric and said, "I don't even know what you're talking about."

"You feel angry when she has someone else in mind. You can't help, but want to have her all for yourself," Cedric continued.

The archer turned his gaze to the grass below and thought back to how he felt when he finally tracked Alice down two days ago after she left the Academy with Xin. He remembered how irritated and angry he was to see her giggling and smiling alongside Xin.

"Well I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It's perfectly normal to be jealous when you're in love." Cedric shrugged his shoulders and grinned when he saw Dante flinch a little at the word 'love.' "Well then, I've got someone waiting for me! I'm sure I've been a great help! Your head feels a little bit more cleared up, right?"

"You just made everything more confusing..."

Cedric laughed and stood up from his seat. "You're thinking too much into it. I don't blame you though! It's probably the first time you ever fell in love, Dante." The bandit spun on his heel once over and walked away. "I'm rootin' for ya!" he yelled as he left Dante standing there.

His mind in a blank, Dante fell back and sat on the edge of the fountain again. He stood up just a short second after and slowly walked out of the park. When he was in the main part of Henesys again, he ran his fingers through his hair and grumbled, "that bastard..."

* * *

"Hold on to me tightly okay? I don't want you to fall."

Alice nodded, blushing as she was held so closely to Xin's body. She clutched at the white fabric of his dress shirt as she peered down. Even though it was a sturdy wooden platform with guard rails, Alice found herself to be fearful of falling. She peered down and saw nothing but the grand expanse of the tops of the lush trees of Ellinea.

"You're not afraid of heights, are you?" Xin asked Alice, who was caught off guard by the question.

"Eh? Well, not a lot. Perhaps a little bit." She changed her answer at the last second as she continued to look down at the sea of green.

"To be frank, I'm a little scared too," Xin chuckled. "But, look. You could see the stars and the moon perfectly from here." The crusader pointed up towards the sky with his hand. "It's a much better view from up here, isn't it?"

Alice looked up at Xin and saw his sapphire blue eyes giving off a soft glow and the rugged features of his face all accented by the moonlight. "Yeah, it is," she whispered. All she wanted tonight was nothing more than for something magical to happen. Subconsciously, the blue haired girl cuddled closer to Xin.

_"I want to be loved. I want to know how it feels to have someone love me." _

She closed her eyes and wished she could stay closely to him like this forever.

"Tired?"

Snapping out of her daydream, Alice looked up at him and laughed sheepishly. She was slightly embarrassed at what she was doing to him. "I guess it's because it's so late! I'm sorry."

Xin smiled and rubbed the top of her head. "It's no problem. You don't need to apologize. Since you're tired, we'll go back home right now."

"Okay."

The male warrior produced from his pocket a Henesys scroll. He pulled the string that held it together and let it go. The reddish-brown scroll opened up, revealing the shield symbol of Henesys and promptly produced a portal. He motioned for Alice to step through first.

Alice heard the energy of the portal swirling around as she stepped closer. Closing her eyes, she put one foot in and briefly heard nothing, but silence. In the next second, she opened up her eyes and found herself to be standing near the Academy's entrance gates.

Right next to her, Xin appeared. He turned to her, looking a bit disoriented. "I could never really quite get used to that." He laughed lightly.

Alice giggled as he looked around to see what part of Henesys they were in. "Xin...?" she quietly asked, bringing the crusader's attention onto her.

"What is it, Alice?"

"Uhm...I...I really, really..." Alice tightly held her hands together. _"It now or never. I have to tell him." _She closed her eyes and bowed her head down. "I like you," she squeaked out, embarrassed thoroughly.

"Huh?"

"I really really like you. Ever since we met on the Ossyria boat ride and until now, I feel like I can't just let go of my feelings for you." Alice tightly gripped her hands in anticipation for what Xin had to say to that.

Xin uneasily cleared his throat and whispered softly, "A-Alice...I'm really happy that you feel that way about me. I really do, but...I'm afraid I can't return your feelings."

"Eh?" She opened her eyes, but kept her head down.

"I don't hate you Alice. Please don't think of it that way. I just...these past few days were great, but you're like a little sister to me. I care about you a lot Alice so, I feel really terrible right now."

Alice felt her hands trembling and a painful feeling rise up her throat, but she forced it down. With a sharp inhale, she stood up straight and forced a bright smile across her face. "It's fine! I...I feel really stupid right now though." She laughed a little. Alice felt her heart throb painfully as she looked at Xin's face. His expression seemed to be that of pity and worry. "I-I'm fine! I promi-" She stopped when she looked past Xin and saw Dante standing just a few feet away from them. He looked rather shocked as he looked at her.

The blue haired girl broke their eye contact and gave a slight bow to Xin. "I'm sorry, I need to go now."

"Alice...I'm really sorr-"

"No! Don't be!" Alice exclaimed, waving her hand. "It was my fault! I should have thought about how you felt as well." She knew that was a weak response, but it was all that she could have thought of at the moment. "See you later then." Without a second thought, she broke into a full run.

"Alice!" Xin shouted out after her.

Dante took a step back and silently ran in the opposite direction. He attempted to follow Alice through a detour, but soon found out that he had lost her. Quietly, he searched around for her.

_"I like you." _

He clenched his fists tightly as he walked through the streets.

_"I really really like you." _

"Idiot..." Dante slowly began to replay the images of Alice's smiles and giggles because of Xin_. _Then the images of her pained smiled just now, floated into his head. "Idiot, you really liked him and yet you-" He stopped when he finally saw her sitting upon the swing sets. He stood there for a while and heard nothing, but the high pitched squeak of the swing's chains rubbing against each other. Silently, he began walking toward her. The sand sunk underneath his leather boots with each step. Dante finally stood before her, but Alice didn't bother to look up at him.

"If you want to make fun of me...now's your chance," Alice murmured, holding onto the chains tightly.

The black haired archer didn't say a word as he sat down on the swing right next to her's.

Alice turned to look at him and asked, "why aren't you saying anything?"

"There's nothing that needs to be said right now."

She looked back down at the soft sand. "You know," she began softly, "I thought love was supposed to make you feel happy. It doesn't."

"Hm."

Alice bit her lip. "I feel terrible right now."

"You don't seem like it."

"That's because...because," Alice stuttered, unable to provide a good answer.

"Because you really liked him, right?" Dante finished. He turned his head slightly to look at her.

Alice nodded her head slowly. "I don't know how I'm supposed to feel right now." Her voice began to crack.

"You do know."

The blue haired girl finally stood up and angrily shouted, "why aren't you mad with me? Why aren't you yelling at me? I've...I've said those horrible things to you and I hit you! I-" Alice widened her eyes when she felt tears clouding her vision. She quickly turned away and attempted to wipe them with the back of her hand.

Dante raised an eyebrow and stood up from the swing. "What's the matter?"

"It's nothing! I'm fine!" Alice sniffled. She mentally cursed when she couldn't stop her tears.

"Do you really want to keep lying to yourself like that?"

"You...you said earlier that you didn't want to make me cry anymore." Alice covered her mouth and tried to hold down her sobs. She tightly closed her eyes, but reopened them when she felt something being draped over her head.

Dante put his black overcoat over Alice's head and turned her around. He held her closely so that her face was buried in his chest. "Idiot...that doesn't mean you should stop crying." Dante lowered his head and embraced her tightly. "Go ahead and cry...I won't look at you."

Alice trembled and bit her bottom lip. Finally, she cried freely into his chest. "I'm so sorry, Dante. I'm sorry...!" She brought her hands up and placed them on his firm, bare arms.

He sighed and buried his face in her blue hair. "What am I going to do now...? My martyr's a crybaby." He smiled softly when he heard her muffled reply.

"Shut up, stupid Dante."

* * *

It wasn't long before Dante heard no more cries from Alice. He was sitting on the swings again and Alice was sitting upon his lap. He looked down and saw her head resting against his chest as she slept soundly. Dante chuckled and slipped his jacket off of her head and lowered it down to her shoulders. He brought his uninjured hand up to her head and gently pulled the white hair ribbon loose. "Alice," he whispered.

She made a soft sound, but continued to sleep. Dante smiled and leaned down slightly. He looked at her face, which was slightly swollen and red from her crying earlier. "Idiot, you're going to look terrible tomorrow." Dante placed his hand on the back of her neck and leaned down. "Alice," he muttered as he kissed the corner of her mouth. "I love you."

* * *

**A/N **_And so the truth is out. _

_I just thought I should clear some stuff up that might be confusing. _

_First, the weapons each of them hold are not what defines their levels. For example, Alice holds an Eviscerator and I know it's a level 120 polearm. However, she is not level 120+ (yet) and so there's an example of that. Same goes for Dante. He holds a Dark Arund and I know it's a level 80 bow, but he's somewhere around level 90-110. In this story, the characters won't change their weapons. If this somehow bothers you, please click the back button. _

_Second, pertaining to the subject of characters. Sean is Alice's brother, but he isn't on the character list because quite honestly, he won't play a huge role in the story. Second, "Nackt" is NOT derived from "Gackt." I'm saying this because I do not want weeaboos BAWWW-ing about how I "stole" their favorite artist's name. Nackt's name does have an origin however and when her character profile comes up, it will be shown. _

_Third, Alice wasn't crying about how Xin didn't like her back. She feels terribly guilty because of what she told Dante in the previous chapter. So that's why she's crying. _

_Fourth, this story is pre-Big Bang.  
_

_

* * *

_

**Cedric Windsor: **

_Age: 19 years old  
Gender: Male  
Height: 5 feet; 11 inches (180 centimeters)  
Weight: 150 pounds (69 kilograms)  
__Eye color: Green  
Hair color: Green  
Class: Chief Bandit  
__MapleStory in-game level (roughly): Level 85-95_

_Background: _Cedric is only a few months older than Dante and the two grew up together since. When Dante's parents went missing, Cedric's family took him in. Because of this, Cedric and Dante have a very close bond with each other. His parents are now deceased because they died when he was 12 years old. Both of them were also in the Aegis. He is more outgoing and cheerful compared to Dante and this in turn, allowed him to take on a playboy title. He is often seen flirting with many females, much to Ada's disgust. Despite his easygoing nature, he is very skilled in using daggers and a seasoned fighter. He is very agile and doesn't seem to have a problem with killing. Like Dante, he is a platoon leader, but many don't believe him since he acts in an immature manner._  
_


	19. To Protect

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Hermit  
_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

_

* * *

_**Aegis**

**Chapter 19: To Protect  
**

It was early in the morning. So early that in fact, the surroundings were still somewhat dim. Alice tightly held Dante's coat in her arms as she walked through the streets of Henesys. She rubbed her eyes once in a while for they still felt heavy from her crying last night. Her memory after that event became fuzzy. When she woke up, she didn't exactly know how she ended up on her bed when she had no recollection of ever making it home. That was when she found Dante's coat was draped over her body.

Alice blushed slightly as she made her way towards the barracks. She knew that it must have been him who took her back home last night.

_"I have to thank him. It's the least I could do." _

She smiled when she arrived at the barracks. Quietly, she went upstairs to the second floor and located Dante's room. For a moment, Alice stood in front of the door in silence. Her hand hesitated before knocking on the old wooden door. "Dante...?" she asked. "Dante? It's me Alice."

She jumped a little when the door a few feet away from her clicked open.

"Alice? What are you doing here?" Cedric asked, rubbing his bright green eyes in a sleepy daze.

"O-Oh, Cedric? I'm just...I'm just here to return Dante's coat."

The bandit blinked a few more times before standing up straighter than before. "Dante should be down at the training grounds."

"Training grounds?"

Cedric nodded, letting out a soft yawn. "He goes there early in the mornings to train." He then grumbled a little after wards, "how does he wake up so early in the first place? He got back to his room so late last night." Scratching his head, Cedric raised an eyebrow and looked at Alice. "Say...Dante was with you last night, wasn't he? And that coat...he left it with you because..."

Alice didn't know what to make of it when Cedric grinned slyly.

"Oh I see, Dante. You acted completely innocent last night, but you did something so _dirty_ with Alice," he muttered to himself, starting to chuckle.

"What was that?" Alice asked, her cyan colored eyes looking back at Cedric innocently.

"Nothing...nothing at all." The bandit continued to chuckle lowly with a sly look on his face. He closed the door slowly behind him. Once the lock clicked, Alice stood there in complete confusion.

"What...just happened?" she mumbled as she walked back down the long hallway. "Well...I suppose I'll go check the training grounds for now."

The sun was still hidden behind the high hills around Henesys when Alice quietly made her way towards the spacious training grounds. The road leading up to it was clean and well-kept, but almost immediately the buildings of Henesys came to a stop and was replaced by rows and rows of shrubs and trees. Alice looked around, seeing no one around.

_"Only Dante's crazy enough to train while everyone else is sleeping."_ Alice thought to herself.

She walked around a bit more before she heard noises coming from the training area ahead of her. Alice quietly walked towards it and finally saw Dante.

"Dante-!" she briefly cut herself off when she saw a tall, red haired woman standing near him. Without a second though, Alice hid behind the nearest tree and peeked out. She heard them talking.

"Your aim seems to be a little bit off."

"Like you could do any better, Rose."

"Unfortunately, I don't have my crossbow with me." The red haired woman shrugged as Dante set his Arund down leaning against a tree. He grabbed a white cloth lying beside his feet and wiped away at the sweat that gathered on his forehead and neck.

"When do you need to go out for your quest?" Dante asked as he wiped off his shoulders and arms.

Rose dusted off the white arm covers on her red Anes armor. "Soon I suppose," she replied rather carelessly.

"Meaning you don't know," Dante sighed as he fell to the ground tiredly.

"My quests are confidential, Dante. You know that." She winked as she held her index finger to her lips. "It's a secret."

"Even the day or time you leave needs to be a secret?"

"Oh?" Rose walked up to him and knelt down. She gently touched his cheek. "Are you going to miss me while I'm gone?"

Dante scoffed softly and brought his hand up to hers. "Don't be ridiculous," he muttered. He propped himself up with his elbow and mumbled, "I'm guessing you won't tell me when you'll be coming back."

Rose suddenly let out a laugh. "So you will miss me! I knew it!"

"Shut up. Quit assuming things by yourself." Dante turned his head away in embarrassment.

Rose noticed this and smiled softly. She brought both of her hands up to his face and turned his head back towards her. "Did anyone tell you you're a horrible liar? No wonder you decided to become a platoon leader instead of a reconnaissance member."

"Whatever...I'm a higher rank than you," he grumbled.

"Ah, but I'm older than you." Rose giggled and cleared away his damp black bangs from his red eyes, only to have them fall back into place again. She leaned down and placed a light kiss on his cheek. "Take care of yourself while I'm gone."

Alice saw her getting up. Quickly, the female warrior stood up and moved her hiding spot as Rose walked away from the training area. Alice peered out and caught a glimpse of her face. _"She's beautiful," _she thought. Alice thought she also looked mature and confident as she walked out of the training grounds. The blue haired girl, left awe-stricken for a while, shook her head and focused her attention back towards Dante.

She silently came out of her hiding spot and went over to the male archer, who was still lying down.

"Dante?" she asked gently, hoping not to startle him.

He turned towards her, seeming as though he was surprised to see her there. "Oh, Alice..." Dante pushed himself off the ground and stood up on his feet. "I didn't really expect to see you here."

"We-Well...I just came here because when I went to your room, you weren't there." She noticed him staring at her. "I...I only came by just to return your coat!"

The black haired man chuckled. "Is that the only reason you bothered to wake up this early?"

"Why does that matter?" Alice mumbled, turning away in embarrassment.

Dante smiled slightly and sighed. "Whatever you say." He set his coat down next to his Arund and picked up the black bow. "Are you going to go back now?" he asked as he walked over to the worn out old quiver that was propped up against an old stump.

"Eh? Uhm...maybe..."

"It's your choice. I don't mind either way." Dante pulled out an arrow from the worn out quiver and strung it on his bow.

"I-I'll just stay then." Alice walked over to where Dante left his belongings and sat beside them. She watched as he pulled the bow back and then let go. In a blink of an eye, the arrow pierced through the air and struck the target board dead in the center. "Uhm...Dante...?"

"Hm?"

The blue haired warrior fiddled with her fingers for a bit before continuing on with her question. "I...I don't know if I should ask this..."

"Then don't." Dante shot out another arrow towards the target.

"Well, I don't want it to seem like I'm prying into your life."

"If you're really that curious, then ask. You're my martyr after all."

Alice sniffled softly and pulled her knees towards her chest. "That woman that just left...who was she?"

Another arrow made a dull thump as it penetrated the wooden target board. "She's just someone close to me. That's all," Dante replied. He took hold of another arrow and strung it on the bow. Instead of shooting it off, he held it there for a while. "She took care of me when I was little. She knew my parents had disappeared so, I guess she pitied me."

"Oh." The real question still lingered inside of Alice's head. _"Is she a girl you like?"_

"You look like you have another question to ask me," Dante stated as if he had read her mind.

She widened her blue eyes and shook her head quickly. "Of course not! I was just curious because...because I thought she was really pretty!"

"What sparks your curiosity about that?" Dante asked rather carelessly, focusing more on his training.

For lack of a better response, Alice retorted, "well! I was just surprised that someone that beautiful would even give you the time of day."

Dante held the wooden arrow in between his middle and ring finger. He turned towards her and gave her a slight glare. "Just so we're being fair. I don't know any guy with his head screwed on right that would give _you_ the time of day either."

"Fine! I'll just find some crazy guy then!"

The archer scoffed and turned his attention back to the target board. "Good luck with that."

Alice let out a soft 'hmph' and stuck her tongue out at him when he wasn't looking. "Stupid, inconsiderate jerk..."

"Did you say something?"

"Nothing!" She continued to watch him train and subconsciously found herself to be staring at him. Before he could notice her, Alice snapped herself out of the daze and turned away. She blushed heavily for the kinds of thoughts that ran through her head a while ago.

_"Why was I staring at his body? Jeez, get yourself together Alice!" _

Secretly, Alice snuck in another glance and noted how lean and toned he was. Her mind then began to float back to last night and how he had embraced her with his strong arms and how she had leaned against his muscular chest.

"What are you spacing out for? I knew it, you're still tired aren't you?" Dante broke Alice's thoughts and returned her back to reality.

"Eh?" She turned to him and felt another blush coming on as she remember what she had just thought about. Alice backed up against the tree and shook her head. "Nothing! I wasn't thinking about anything!"

Dante walked over to her, much to her displeasure, and picked up the white cloth that lay on the grassy ground. He sighed and began wiping off the sweat that covered his body. "Whatever, it's probably something weird anyways."

Alice willed herself not to look, but found her eyes wandering back to Dante. She felt her heart speed up as she watched him running the cloth over his collarbone. Quickly, she buried her face in her knees. _"I have to stop looking! I feel like such a pervert! Why? Why? Why?" _

"Hey...are you okay? You're being weirder than normal," Dante commented, raising an eyebrow. He only heard a muffled sound from her in response. To this, he sighed again and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not sure if I really want to know."

Alice finally lifted her head up from her knees, but kept her face covered with her hands. "I-It's not my fault!" she protested.

"What are you talking about?"

She quickly reached for his white shirt and threw it at him. "Just hurry up and put your clothes on!"

Dante pulled the article of clothing off of his head, where it had landed, and stared at Alice as if she had gone crazy. He narrowed his red eyes and looked at her more closely, then finally he let out a soft chuckle out of amusement. "Are you...embarrassed?"

Alice widened her eyes and hid her face again in her knees. "I'm not!"

"Are you sure?" Dante found this to be entertaining as he leaned in closer. "You seem rather flustered."

"I'm not!" she argued again in a stubborn tone.

"Really?" He grabbed her arms and tried to pull them away. "Your expression is telling me otherwise."

"St-Stupid Dante!" she exclaimed as she resisted him. "What part of 'I'm not' don't you understand?" When he leaned in closer, Alice felt herself losing her balance. "Wait!...Don't!" In the next second, she found herself lying down on the ground. Her back ached slightly from the impact. From above her, she heard a soft laugh.

"Wow, you're so red. So you were embarrassed."

Alice opened her eyes and saw Dante above her. "Ge...Get off of me!" She struggled against him, but he had her wrists firmly pinned to the ground.

"Hey Alice...? What made you so embarrassed?"

"I...I wasn't-"

"Idiot, do you think I'll believe that when it's obvious?"

Alice turned away, finding his red eyes much too piercing. She remained silent, hoping Dante would take it as a signal to get off.

"Hm." He smirked slightly and said, "I did catch you staring at me a couple of times."

The warrior trembled when she heard what he had said. She slowly shook her head. "N-No I wasn't...I wasn't."

Dante chuckled. "Is this the first time you've seen a guy's body this close?"

"Like I have any choice, but not to be!" she shot back. "Now get off of me! You're heavy!" Alice widened her eyes when Dante let go of one of her wrists and gently picked up a stray lock of cyan colored hair that was beside her face. "Dante...? What are you-?" She let out an audible gasp at the sensation she felt when he gave her hair a little tug. "W-Weirdo...get off...this is-" Alice was blushing heavily as Dante silently continued to play with her hair. Her eyes focused on his black Aegis insignia tattoo just below his collarbone. "Stop...stop," Alice murmured, shaking her head. Her breathing grew labored as she got more nervous. "Dante...stop...you're acting weird." Much to her surprise, he stopped playing with her hair. However, instead of getting off he leaned down towards her slowly.

Alice felt her heart pounding away at her chest as she realized what might happen. Just when he nearly closed the gap, she screamed and turned away. "Stop it!" she shouted as Dante barely kissed her cheek instead. She was visibly shaking as Dante pulled away.

"Alice...what...?"

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked. He voice was shaking as well.

"I thought...you..."

"No! No!" Alice struggled against him harder. "Let me go!"

Dante sat up, pulling her up as well. "Alice, I-"

"Let me go!" she protested, trying to release herself from his grasp. "You're terrible!"

The male archer, taken aback by her sudden outburst, asked, "why? I don't think I-?"

"Just because you were nice to me last night doesn't mean you should tease me like that!"

"Alice, I don't understand." Dante sat there, genuinely confused. "I don't want to tease you."

"Quit joking around with me! You're probably finding it hilarious that Xin rejected me yesterday, right?" Alice felt her voice wavering as she begged herself not to cry again. "You just want to make fun of me right now."

"How in the world am I trying to make fun of you?"

"You just want to play with my feelings. That was the first time I've ever...had someone do something like that..."

Dante let out a tired sigh. He glanced at her and saw her trembling with her head faced down. "Idiot...are you crying again?"

"N-No," Alice mumbled, sniffled. She felt him release her arms. Trying to calm herself down, Alice sat there in silence. "I'm...confused," she confessed after a while. Alice raised her head slightly and glanced at Dante, only to find him staring back at her. "I thought you hated me. When we first met...all you did was call me names and tease me and-"

"That was a long time ago," Dante cut in.

"But a few days ago, you told me how ridiculous I looked in front of Xin."

"That was..." Dante turned away and muttered, "I was just...jealous."

"Huh?" She wasn't quite sure if she heard him correctly. "Did you say...jealous...?"

Embarrassed at what he had just said, Dante didn't answer her. Instead he picked up his white shirt and stood up. "The sun's coming up. We should head over to the Academy now," he said as he pulled the shirt over his head.

Alice nodded her head slowly, still a bit dumbstruck over what she thought she heard Dante say. As she slowly got up on her feet, she noticed his right hand visibly shaking as he was pulling his shirt down. "Is your hand okay?" she asked, her voice filled with concern.

"I just injured it while training...hey!" he exclaimed when Alice took the injured hand.

Upon closer inspection, Alice found fleshy pink scars on the skin. She looked up at him. "And you still decided to come out here and train today?"

"It's not like it really matters. Minna healed it a little." He took his hand back abruptly. "Let's just go back."

"Ah...okay," Alice said as Dante gathered up all of his things. She followed him out of the training grounds, walking just a few steps behind him. _"Did he really say that he was...jealous? Of Xin?" _She looked at Dante and then switched her gaze back towards the ground. _"But then again...what was all that about earlier? It looked like he was about to...to..." _The warrior felt her cheeks heating up when she remembered how close Dante was to her when he had her on the ground. _"...Did he want to...kiss me?" _

"Hey, are you spacing out again?"

Blinking, Alice looked up and saw that Dante was already a distance away from her. "I-I'm not spacing out!"

"Then why are you so behind?"

"You just walk too fast!" she countered.

"Fine, but how long do you intend to stand there? I don't want to deal with that headmaster again just because my martyr was being an idiot again," Dante said rather lazily, keeping his cool.

Alice huffed and clenched her fists. _"Never mind...this guy...he definitely wasn't going to kiss me! Not by a long shot!" _

_

* * *

_

"Are you sure about going to see him at this time of day?"

"Well...Alice is starting to get suspicious that I'm leaving at night all the time, so right now would be good." Minna walked alongside Cedric and felt her heartbeat quicken as they went further down the prison towards Ivan's cell. She hadn't seen him in over a week due to Alice's suspicions, so she felt nervous about seeing him again. She placed her hand over her heart and let out a soft sigh, trying to calm herself down.

Cedric noticed this and smiled, "do you like Ivan by any chance Minna?"

"O-Of course I like him!"

"Hm...do you _love_ him?"

The cleric brought her hand up to her mouth and blushed. "I...I suppose," she mumbled shyly. "But I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because! Because..." Minna paused, searching inside of her head for something to say. "He's hurt Alice and Dante, isn't it wrong for me to like someone like that?"

They arrived in front of Ivan's cell. Cedric took the key off the holder from the wall and went over to the door. "I don't think it's wrong," he replied as he unlocked the door. He smiled at Minna as he motioned for her to go in. "I think...you should tell him."

"Th-Thank you Cedric," she said as she returned his smile. Quietly, she slipped past him and entered the dark cell. The door closed behind her and once again her heartbeat sped up when she saw Ivan.

He slowly sat up from the ground when he saw her. "Where were you?" he asked immediately.

"Sorry, Alice was getting suspicious that I was leaving every night without telling her where I was going." Minna walked up to him and knelt down. "Are...you okay?"

"It's not like anything can hurt me anyways," he muttered. He glanced at her and asked, "did you have something say?"

"Eh?" Startled by his question, Minna flinched. She hesitated for a while, but finally stated, "I was going to go to Athena tomorrow...to ask her if you could be let free."

"Are you still going on about that?"

"Yes. I...I don't want you to stay here forever. I want you to be free. I want to spend more time with you." She nervously held her hands. Minna looked at him and awaited his response.

"Won't you get in trouble? You're already in over your head. I'm nothing, but a weapon for Krylin. Your leaders know that fully well. They obviously won't listen to your word over theirs'." Ivan saw her as she down turned her soft red eyes in disappointment. He sighed and gently placed his hand over her trembling ones. "I don't want something to happen to you too. All because you're going out of your way just to help me."

"Ivan," Minna whispered. She felt him give her hands a gentle squeeze. Shivering involuntarily at his touch, she shyly took his hand. "Ivan...? Can I...give you something?" Fearing he might be apprehensive, she quickly added in, "it's not anything bad! At least_ I_ don't think it's bad."

Ivan gave a little nod. "If you really think it's not that bad then-" He sat there with his emerald green eyes widened in surprise when he felt Minna embrace him. "...What...are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" she asked curiously.

The blond gunslinger lowered his gaze. "I just...don't know what you're doing," he mumbled, feeling his body heat up when she held him tighter.

"I'm hugging you."

"Hugging me...?"

Minna nodded and smiled as she rested her chin on his shoulder. "You hug the people you like." The cleric couldn't help, but let out a soft giggle when she began to imagine the confused expression Ivan probably had.

"Do you like me then?" he asked.

"Mhm," Minna responded, closing her eyes. She reopened them in surprise when she felt his arms encircle her waist. "I-Ivan?" she asked, a bit shocked by his actions.

Ivan hid his face in her neck. "Didn't you say you do this with the person you like?" He sounded embarrassed to Minna.

She giggled, slightly happy with his response. "Do you like it?" she asked.

"...It's warm," Ivan admitted, mumbling his response as if he were shy. He held her tightly, finding himself not wanting to let her go.

The orange haired girl blushed. She felt butterflies in her stomach as she lowered her gaze. "Uhm...Ivan? I...I don't want it to seem like I'm confusing you, but I just wanted to say that I think...I think that I might lo-" Abruptly, Minna was cut off before she could finish speaking because of the cell door suddenly swinging open. She and Ivan both let go of each other quickly when they saw Athena and a few guards walk in. "Mi-Miss Athena," Minna stuttered, hoping the silvery haired elf didn't see what she and Ivan were doing.

"So I see the suspicions were true," Athena muttered, flickering her gaze back and forth between Minna and Ivan.

The cleric saw Cedric behind the elf. He looked apologetic as he mouthed to her the words 'I'm sorry.' Minna looked away from him and turned her attention back to Athena. "Miss Athena, please-"

"Take him away," the female archer ordered the two guards behind her.

"Yes ma'am."

Minna stood up and asked, "where are you taking him?"

"That is none of your concern, Miss Sukoyaka. Now please step aside," Athena calmly replied.

She shook her head and defiantly raised her arms out to her sides, shielding Ivan from the guards. "You can't take him away! I won't let you!"

"Minna, he is a dangerous-"

"He's not dangerous! He isn't! He's just as dangerous as any one of us!"

Suddenly, a soft chuckle reached her ears. Minna saw a woman emerge from the doorway and walk into the small cell. She widened her eyes when she caught a glimpse of the woman's appearance. "...You look like..."

The woman brushed back her blue hair away from her face and crossed her arms over her rather ample chest. She coolly walked over to Minna. "You don't know anything about that experiment's capabilities, young lady. Step away from him before your naivety kills us all."

"Who are you...?" Minna asked, still in shock. She turned around when she heard Ivan getting up behind her. "Ivan?"

The gunslinger had a glare directed at the woman that emitted extreme hatred. "Why are you here?" he said while gritting his teeth.

She chuckled again, picking an imaginary hair off of her white lab coat. "I thought you'd be happy to see me, Ivan. I am after all...the one that created you."

* * *

**A/N **_Sorry for the short chapter. I thought this would be a good place to leave off. I will try to update again in the next few days. But no solid promises of course. _

_This came up a few times from some of my readers, so I'll clear it up right now. _

_Xin is NOT going to betray the Aegis or go join Krylin. I have every aspect of this story planned out until the very end and I am never intending for him to go to the "dark side." And the red haired woman in the beginning is Rose from chapter 8. How is she related to Dante? Oh the questions..._

_Also, Alice pushed Dante away because she thinks that he doesn't love her. Just clarifying.  
_

_As always, read & review! (And I promise the action will resume after around 3 more chapters)  
_

_

* * *

_

**Minna Sukoyaka:**

_Age: 15 years old  
Gender: Female  
Height: 5 feet; 4 inches (143 centimeters)  
Weight: 105 pounds (48 kilograms)  
__Eye color: Red  
Hair color: Orange (Strawberry blonde)  
Class: Cleric  
__MapleStory in-game level (roughly): Level 50-60_

_Background: _She has no recollection of her parents and only remembers being raised by the kind magi that lives near Sleepywood. Minna learned the art of healing and holy magic from him while she grew up. While she had no formal training with the Aegis, her holy magic is considerably strong. She is capable of defending and attacking with magic, but she lacks power in physical combat. Minna looks up to Alice and admires her greatly for her strength. While she may seem timid and shy, she won't hesitate at being aggressive when she needs to defend the ones she cares about.


	20. The Past Pt 1

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Hermit  
_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

_

* * *

_**Aegis**

**Chapter 20: The Past (Pt. 1)  
**

"I'm really sorry Minna. I tried to stop them from coming in, but..."

"It's fine Cedric. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble for covering up something I did," Minna whispered. She was walking alongside the bandit as they followed Athena and the rest of them out of the prisons.

"Well," Cedric let out a sheepish laugh and held the back of his neck. "Athena already suspended me from all of my quests for the next few days. I'm probably going to get an earful from Ada again."

"I'm sorry," she replied apologetically. "I shouldn't have bothered you to get me down here in the first place." She lowered her head, but then flickered her eyes over to the mysterious blue haired woman that walked in front of them. "Do you know who she is?"

The green haired man shook his head. "I've never seen her before. But...she kind of looks like Alice, doesn't she? I mean...she looks a bit older than her too," Cedric whispered back to Minna. "They could be related."

Minna kept her eyes on the woman as they all exited the dark underground prison. She was wary of her as she asked, "where are you going to take Ivan?"

The woman turned around and sighed. "Are you that interested in this...thing?" she threw her thumb over her shoulder, pointing towards Ivan.

"He's not a _thing_!" Minna retorted, clenching her fists.

"Then what else would you call this experiment?"

"He has a name."

"Only because we needed to differentiate him from all of our other failed bio weapons." She turned around to face Ivan. "Perhaps it was a mistake giving you a name in the first place. Did you feel more human when this girl called you by it?"

Ivan looked away from her angrily. "Shut up," he muttered.

After a long pause, the woman let out an amused scoff and waved it off. "Well, no matter. We have you back in our possession. I'll personally have to make sure that you obey our orders this time."

The blond gunslinger looked at her bitterly. "I'll never...take orders from the likes of you."

"Hm, we'll see about tha-"

"Alice!"

Minna saw Dante coming up to them. She looked around, confused as to why he called out Alice's name. "Dante, who are you-?" Her question was answered when he came right up to the woman in the white lab coat and turned her around by the shoulder.

"Idiot, at least acknowledge me when I'm calling for you," Dante sighed, completely ignoring both Cedric and Minna who were trying to tell him that it wasn't Alice he was talking to.

"Excuse me, young man! _Idiot_? And who exactly are you referring to with that word?" she snapped out, roughly hitting away his hand from her shoulder.

Dante scoffed in disbelief. "Did you hit your head somewhere? You're acting as if you don't know me and you're wearing that weird outfit..."

"Dante!" Athena sternly said. "She isn't your martyr!"

"She's... not?" the male archer seemed genuinely confused.

Before Athena could respond, the blue haired woman cut in rather abruptly. "I believe you're referring to my daughter, Alice."

"Eh?" Minna exclaimed in complete shock. "No wonder you look like her! You're her mother?"

"My name is Dr. Julia Everard." She said this as if she were directing the statement towards Dante. "I assume you're my daughter's platoon leader?" The doctor scoffed before Dante could say anything. "I knew that if I left her alone all she would do is get herself caught up in the Aegis. Just like her father. Well, no matter," Julia let out a tired sigh and turned away from the black haired man. She faced Athena and stated, "I'll be taking Ivan back to Omega Sector if you don't mind. We still have many experiments left unfinished on him."

"You're not taking me back there," Ivan growled. He struggled against the guards, but they held him tightly by the arms.

"Wait!" Minna shouted. "He...He can't! You can't leave! Because..."

Dante noticed how the cleric was searching for words to say. He took note of her distraught and decided to help her. "Shouldn't you visit your daughter first, doctor?" he asked Julia, completing Minna's sentence.

The woman raised an eyebrow and finally laughed. "I doubt she misses me all too much. I'm sure she's doing just fine with her little brother, without me there. Now then, may I take Ivan with me back to Ossyria? I believe we're already behind schedule as it is-"

"Please! Please don't take him!" Minna suddenly cried out. Her voice sounded full of desperation as she pleaded with Athena. "I promise he won't hurt anyone! So please!"

"Minna," Dante whispered, taking hold of her shoulder. "He's still a prisoner of war."

"But-"

Athena rested her frost blue eyes on Minna for a while. After a while, she turned towards Julia and calmly apologized. "I'm terribly sorry, but Dante is right. He is a prisoner of war and he needs to remain within the Aegis so that we can be sure he won't be a threat."

"What?" The doctor narrowed her sharp gray eyes at Athena and adjusted the red rimmed glasses on her face. "Are you planning to intrude upon Omega Sector's experiment?"

"Is this a problem, doctor? Omega Sector is in an alliance with the Aegis. Everything that has to do with this war is under our judgment."

"Hm, it seems that you're developing a soft side, Athena. Are actually going to grant that little girl's wishes?" She flickered her gaze over towards Minna.

Athena remained silent to all this.

Letting out a sharp sigh, Julia complied grudgingly. "So be it. For now, I'll trust that you'll keep that _thing_ locked up somewhere." Sharply, she turned on her heels and walked away, obviously angered about how things turned out. Dante watched her leave and noticed that she was walking in the direction towards Alice's house.

"Minna," Athena suddenly said, catching the young cleric off-guard.

"Y-Yes?"

"Would you please join me in the council room? I believe I need to have a private conversation with you."

"Uhm...ye-yes! Of course!"

The elven archer smiled gently and turned to face the two guards that were holding Ivan. She gave a slight nod of her head, silently telling them to follow her. "Now then...shall we go?" she asked Minna, who nodded meekly.

"Hey Cedric...?" Dante asked as he watched everyone leave. "Were you helping Minna see him?"

"Ah, we-well...about that...!" the green haired man replied, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. He stammered dumbly for a while, trying to come up with a good excuse. When he couldn't come up with one, Cedric let out a sigh and replied, "yes, I was. She told me you and Alice didn't want her to get so close to Ivan, but how could I have said no?" He looked out towards the long street, seeing that Athena and the rest of them had disappeared from view. "Minna likes him so much that it's almost sad that she can't be with him."

* * *

_"I wonder what she wants to talk about..."_

Minna nervously played with her hands as she followed Athena into the huge council building. She heard the guards and Ivan just a few steps behind her, following them. Occasionally, she looked up at Athena and only saw her soft, wispy silver hair gently swaying from side to side as she walked.

"Here we are," Athena gently said as she opened up the grand oak doors that led to the council room. "Please stand by the door until we come out," she ordered the guards.

"Yes ma'am."

Minna quietly followed the archer into the room, but once the doors were closed behind her she immediately asked, "what will happen to Ivan?"

"Minna...are sticking by with what you said earlier?"

"Eh?"

Athena looked at her with a kind gaze. "You seem to have taken a liking towards him."

The orange haired cleric started to blush. "I-I know it's wrong of me! I know he's the enemy, but..." She trailed off slowly and paused. "I'm sorry, Miss Athena. I...I'm not really sure actually," she admitted softly. "But I will stay true to what I've said earlier! I know he's not a bad person!" Minna insisted.

"I see."

Minna looked away from Athena, finding herself becoming nervous underneath the archer's calm gaze. "Uhm...Ivan...will he-?"

"He will be staying with you."

"Huh?" The young cleric widened her deep red eyes, wondering if she heard Athena correctly.

"It seems as though you both trust each other," the elf stated. "The guard in front of the prisons told me you were going to see him quite frequently."

"Ah...well," Minna stuttered.

Athena placed a hand gently upon the magician's bare shoulder. "I expect you to keep a close eye on him."

"O-Of course!"

"Good." Smiling, Athena walked over to the door behind Minna and opened it up. She motioned to the two guards standing just outside of the door to step inside. "Please release him from his binds," she ordered.

The guards looked rather skeptical at first, but complied to her demands. In a matter of seconds, the cuffs were unlocked and slipped off of Ivan's wrists. He looked confused, of which Athena noticed.

"We will be keeping a close eye on you, Ivan," the silver haired elf said in a calm voice. "I'm allowing you to be free underneath the guidance of Minna."

Ivan remained silent, still confused as to what was happening. He looked at Minna and saw her flash him a little smile. "I...understand," he whispered, looking away from both of them.

"Minna, you and Ivan may leave now."

"Ah, uhm...th-thank you!" Gratefully, Minna bowed her head and thanked Athena once more. She walked up to Ivan and shyly lowered her head. "L-Let's go then...!" Hesitantly, she took his hand and obediently, Ivan followed her. Her heart beat quickly against her chest until they got out of the council building. By then, Minna knew that there was no turning back.

"I'm surprised," Ivan muttered as they stood on the front steps of the building. "She must really trust you."

Minna turned around to face the blonde and saw him looking down at the ground rather blankly. "Are you...are you mad I did that?" she asked softly.

"...No. It was your choice after all," he muttered. Ivan finally looked her straight in the eyes. "Did anything happen to you?"

"Eh? N...No! Of course not!" she exclaimed, laughing. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason..."

* * *

"Are you following me?"

"I'm just going to the same place as you are."

The blue haired doctor turned around sharply, almost causing Dante to bump into her. She narrowed her steel gray eyes at him and said, "just how close are you to my daughter?"

"I _am_ her platoon leader. Athena requires us to work together on our quests and assignments."

"Hmph, just another thing to worry about. Alice being alone with the likes of a smart-aleck like you." Dr. Everard let out a sigh. "What ever am I going to do with her?" She began walking again and Dante followed her, much to her annoyance. When they got to Alice's house, the doctor turned around so sharply again that this time Dante really did bump into her. However, she simply brushed it off. "Listen, you don't have any business here so go home."

"I need to talk to Alice."

"With you here, I can't properly greet my children."

"Just a while ago, you sounded as if you could care less about Alice and her brother."

"Hm, such a nosy little boy you are." Before Dante could get another word in, the woman opened up the door to the house and shut it quickly behind her, leaving him outside.

He let out a sharp sigh and rubbed the back of his head, his eyes closed tightly in frustration. "Is everyone in that family just out to annoy me?"

"Annoy you?"

Dante opened up his eyes and turned around. He saw Alice standing there, looking rather confused. "Nothing...I was just talking to myself," he mumbled.

"Are you finally going insane?" Alice asked, snickering slightly. She broke into a soft laugh when all he did was glare at her. "Well whatever," she said as she brushed past him, headed towards the front door of her house.

"Wait," Dante quickly grabbed hold of her arm.

"What is it?"

He stood there silently, trying to figure out if he should tell her that her mother was inside. "Uh...I need to talk with you."

"Fine, but we could talk inside the house, can't we?" Before Dante could stop her from opening up the door, she twisted the door knob and swung it open. When Alice stepped inside, she immediately stood froze to the spot when she saw her mother. "M-Mom...?"

The rather busty blue haired doctor who was sitting on one of the couches in the living room, smiled rather warmly as she greeted Alice. "Alice...how are you?"

"I'm...fine."

Dante promptly let go of Alice's arm and noticed her becoming uneasy. He stood by the door as Julia came over to Alice and embraced her in a tight hug. "Ah, you're getting quite thin. Are you eating properly?" she asked.

"Mm, well I-I really can't eat that much because I have a lot to do..."

"I see you still haven't quit the Aegis."

"I have no reason to."

Julia pulled away from her daughter and looked at her strangely. "Honey, I don't think you're ready to fight in this war. It's very brutal and I'd much rather like it if you stayed home."

"Being nice to me won't make me change my mind!" Alice suddenly snapped out. She roughly hit both of her mother's arms away from her. "You don't even really care what happens to me anyways!"

"Alice that's not true."

"You're always gone for months and you never even write us a letter! Where were you when we actually needed you? You only want me to quit the Aegis because of dad!" Without another word, Alice turned around sharply and ran out. She roughly brushed past Dante, who attempted to get out of her way. Once she left, he stood there by the doorway for a while in silence. Quietly he looked over at the doctor, who was pinching the bridge of her nose as her head was bowed down. It was obvious that she was frustrated with what had just happened.

Julia finally lifted her head up and glared at Dante. "What are you still doing here?"

"...I was just leaving," he muttered as he started to walk out of the house. He stopped suddenly just before he got out. "Why do you want Alice to quit the Aegis?"

She let out a soft laugh. "Such a nosy little boy, aren't you?"

* * *

Letting short breaths, Alice stopped running and placed her hands on her knees. She bent over and took her time to catch her breath. Quite honestly, she didn't know how far and how long she had been running. All she wanted to do was get as far away from her mother as possible. Alice finally lifted her head and saw that she was surrounded by trees that displayed a wide variety of red and orange hues on their leaves. She stood there for a while and tilted her head back to look at the colorful maple leaves. When one floated down to her, she held out both of her hands and let it gently fall onto her palms.

Carefully she took it by the stem and walked over to a nearby log. Ignoring the fact that it was covered in moss and mushrooms, Alice sat down upon it and stared at the brilliantly colored leaf absent-mindedly.

"It's already going to be winter, huh?" a soft voice said from behind her.

Alice turned around slowly, for she already recognized who it was by the voice. "How did you find me?" she asked Dante, who was standing just a few feet away from her.

"First off, you don't run very fast," he said with a light chuckle. He came over to her and sat down on the log beside her. "Second, you're my martyr. If I can't find you wherever you may be...how can I call myself your platoon leader?" He looked up at the colored maple leaves and then looked over at Alice with a little smile.

The warrior couldn't help, but smile as she looked back down at the leaf she was holding. "I think it's strange," she said quietly, twirling the maple leaf by its stem.

"What is?"

"I never really expected myself to be this comfortable around you."

"You didn't seem comfortable with me this morning."

Alice felt a blush coming on when she remembered the morning's events. "How could you have expected me to be comfortable with a situation like that?" she exclaimed, keeping her eyes on the maple leaf in her hands. She heard Dante laugh softly. "You're always mocking me," she grumbled.

"Is that what you're always thinking?" he asked.

"Wh-Why else would you-?"

"You can't think of any other reason?"

"Eh?" Alice looked at Dante and immediately noticed his soft gaze. She hesitantly looked away from his red eyes and stuttered, "I...I can't think of any other reason why you would...tease me all the time." She tightly gripped the maple leaf.

"None at all?" he asked, his voice suddenly sounding rather smooth.

Alice shook her head slowly, continuing to avoid his eyes.

After a long pause, Dante let out a soft scoff and smiled. "I see then..."

"Uhm...why would you ask?" she stuttered.

"No reason," Dante simply stated. A long period of silence filled the air afterwards. The male archer calmly looked at the leaves above them and Alice continued to play with the leaf in her hands. "Why did you join the Aegis in the first place?" he asked her.

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Alice stammered for a moment before responded. "We-Well...because my dad was in the Aegis too. He would always come back all battered and bruised after a quest, but he seemed happy. He told me and Sean one time that he was in the Aegis just to protect us from this war." She smiled warmly. "He said he would make sure that we would never have to live in fear or have to fight." Her smile slowly started to fade as a slight wind began to pick up. "But...he died during a battle. I wonder if he knew he was going to die that day."

"Do you miss him?" Dante looked over at her and saw her quickly wiping away at her eyes.

"Eh? U-Uhm...of course I do!" She laughed nervously, hoping Dante didn't catch her crying. "He's the only one that took care of me and Sean." Alice laughed again, trying to hide the fact that she was sad. "Do you remember your parents at all, Dante?"

The black haired man shook his head. "I don't know. They disappeared when I was very young. All I know about them are from the archives in the Aegis."

"Oh...are you...curious about them?"

"Not really. I already know that they were both platoon leaders. My mother was a fire elemental archmage and my father was an assassin. They were supposedly the best."

"That's good, isn't it? They were good people, right?"

"Then why are there no traces of them at all? Even in the archives, I needed to look through so many records before I got to the one containing information about my parents. There was no record telling me how they died or even how they disappeared."

"I see," Alice muttered, lowering her gaze. "That doesn't mean that they were...bad people or anything...right?"

"It just doesn't make sense. If they were good people there should be some records of them left, shouldn't there be-" Dante suddenly stopped talking and fell silent.

"Dante? What's the matter?"

He shushed her and whispered, "did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Dante remained silent for a while. Alice stared at him, confused as to what he was hearing. "Dante, I really don't think-"

"Hurry," he whispered. "We need to hide."

"What are you talking abo-?" Alice felt Dante suddenly grab her wrist and get up from the log. When roughly pulled her behind the nearest tree, she yelled in protest. "What are you doing?"

Dante quickly clasped his hand over her mouth as he held her tightly against his chest. "Be quiet! There's some else here," he whispered. He felt Alice stop struggling against him. "Just stay like that."

Alice was still confused as to what Dante was hearing, but she simply decided to follow his orders and stay still. Sure enough soon after, she heard the faint voices of someone talking in the distance. They grew closer with each passing second. "They could just be travelers you know," she whispered.

"Shh." Dante hushed her again, placing his hand over her mouth. "Who in their right mind would travel between the towns during a time like this? It's dangerous. The only people that move around nowadays are either with the Aegis or have sided with Krylin."

The warrior roughly pulled his hand off of her mouth. "Then they're probably with the Aegis! We're so close to Henesys aftera-"

"Damn it, stop talking!" Dante whispered sharply as he clamped his hand over her mouth again. She kept struggled against him, offering up muffled shouts of protest.

"Did you hear something?"

"It was probably just the wind."

Both Alice and Dante froze when they heard the other voices. The archer peered out from behind the tree they were hiding behind and saw two people standing by the log that he and Alice were sitting on a few minutes ago. He saw that one was a regular Aegis foot soldier and the other seemed like a scout for Krylin.

"Is this it?" The scout had the voice of a woman.

"Battle plans, strategies, you name it," the foot solider replied, handing a scroll over to the scout. "It was quite easy. Our platoon leader trusts his soldiers far too much and they say that you get more wise when you're as old as him. What a joke," the soldier laughed heartily.

"Hm," the scout simply replied as she unraveled the scroll, verifying its contents. "Very good. Krylin will be pleased with what you've gotten."

"Aren't we being rather careless by meeting so close to Henesys?"

The scout chuckled. "The Aegis is filled with nothing more than a bunch of morons. How else do you think Krylin managed to gain control of both Perion and Kerning in such a short amount of time?"

Alice gently pulled away Dante's hand from her mouth. "Dante...I think I have to sneeze."

"What?" he whispered back incredulously. "Are you kidding me? Just don't think about it."

"But, I can't think of anything el-" Right before she could finish her sentence, Alice let out a soft sneeze.

"Is someone there?"

"Damn it," Dante cursed under his breath. He heard the two of them coming over to investigate. "You just _had_ to sneeze didn't you?"

"I couldn't help it!" Alice retorted. "What do we do now? They'll find us out!"

Thinking quickly, Dante turned Alice around and looked her straight in the eyes. "Just follow my lead," he instructed her as he began to take off his black coat.

The blue haired girl looked at him confused as he placed his coat over her shoulders. "Follow your lead? Wh-?" She widened her eyes when she felt Dante's lips upon her's. Alice whined in protest, but he only held onto her tighter as if he were silently telling her to relax. She felt him fumble with her hair clip before he finally released it, letting her blue hair fall down to her back.

"Show yourselves!"

Alice heard the scout coming closer to them. She assumed that Dante heard her as well, for he pulled away slightly. "Can't you relax a bit more?"

"You-!" She felt Dante roughly kissing her again, this time he was using his tongue. Alice trembled and closed her eyes. Her face felt hot as she slowly began to lose herself to Dante's actions.

"Hey! You two!"

The archer pulled away from her. Promptly, Alice collapsed against his chest. She felt him hold her tightly against him as he faced the scout. "Can't we have a little bit or privacy?" he asked.

"If you wanted privacy, why do it out here? Why don't you two just go make out inside of your own houses like normal teenagers?"

"Well damn, that'd be a great idea if it weren't for our nosy ass parents," Dante shot back.

The scout scoffed in disgust as she stepped closer to them. "You two are lucky that I'm in no mood to kill anyone today. Hurry up and get the hell out of here, you damn brats."

"What is it? Who are they?" the foot soldier asked, coming up behind the scout.

"Nothing. They're just a bunch of hormone loaded teenagers."

Dante held Alice's head against his collarbone, trying to hide his Aegis tattoo. "Fine, we'll leave," he said carelessly. "Let's go somewhere else, okay?"

Alice nodded meekly as he took her and started to walk away. She felt as if her whole body had turned into jelly as they walked out of the forest and into the outskirts of Henesys. Once Dante released her, she wobbled slightly on her own feet.

"That was close," he said, letting out a soft sigh of relief. "It would have been bad if they found out we were from the Aegis. Good thing we didn't have our weapons on us." Dante looked back at the forest and then turned to face Alice. He looked confused when she simply stood there with her back turned to him. "Hey, are you alright?" Gently, he turned her around and saw her whole face was still heavy with a bright red blush. "Why are you-?"

"That...that was my...that was my first k-kiss!" she shouted suddenly.

"What? Why are you upset about that?"

"I wanted my first kiss to be romantic!"

"Are you kidding me?" Dante snapped out. "Would you have rather been found out by those two?"

"No! But, you didn't have to kiss me!"

Dante groaned tiredly as he ran his hand through his jet black hair. "You're such a _girl_. Who cares if that was your first kiss?"

"I do! My first kiss...it-it wasn't romantic at all!" she said, completely defeated.

"Would you relax? That was my first kiss too, idiot. At least I'm not spazzing out about it."

"It...was?" Alice asked.

Dante glanced at her. "And why do you sound so surprised about that?"

"B-Because...you were..." She wanted to tell him that it seemed as if he were very knowledgeable about kissing girls, but she couldn't find the courage to say so. Instead she shook her head vigorously and responded, "never mind that! It's only because you're a guy!"

"What does me being a guy have to do with anything?"

"Guys don't care about their first kiss as much as girls do!" Alice shot out.

"Oh give me a break! What makes you think you know so much about guys?"

"And what makes you think that you know so much about girls?"

The male archer snatched his coat off of her shoulders and slipped it on. "Whatever, let's just get back into town." He handed Alice back her hair clip and remained silent for a while. "You know," he started as she took the hair clip from him. "I didn't mind...what had happened."

"...What is that supposed to mean?"

Dante walked past her and started heading into the main part of Henesys. "It's nothing," he said with a slight chuckle.

Alice stood there for a while, holding her hair clip to her chest. She felt her heart hammering away inside of her. "Stupid," she mumbled as she silently followed behind him.

* * *

**A/N **_There you go. Alice and Dante fluff. Probably a bit more fluffy than I anticipated, but that probably confirms one of the many shippings in this story. Lolz _

_As always, read and review. Reviews make me more motivated to write the next chapter. _

_And, if anyone's curious as to how Dante and Alice look like, you're more than welcome to follow the link to my DeviantArt on my profile. I have a few pictures of Dante uploaded and a picture with both of them in it. (But, in all the pictures, they're not wearing the clothes that they are wearing in this story.) While, yes, I'm not the world's greatest artist, it might help with the visuals. I will be drawing more pictures of them soon so keep an eye out for that. _

_Anyways, mentions of a battle in this chapter. (Gasp) Yeah, they'll be a huge battle towards the end of the story. (For those of you that like action.)  
_


	21. The Past Pt 2

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Hermit  
_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

**Julia Everard - **_35 years old__  
_

_

* * *

_

**Aegis**

**Chapter 21: The Past (Pt. 2)**

_"Get up." _

_Ivan lay there on the ground, completely still. He felt his warm blood pool underneath his stomach as he also felt the sharp sensation of his wounds healing. _

_"Didn't you hear me? Get up," the woman repeated, kicking him on his shoulder. _

_The gunslinger glared up at her from the corner of his eye. He felt his burning hatred for her grow when he heard her laugh. _

_"Don't look at me with those eyes. It's disgusting how you managed to gain some type of human emotion. Hmph." She wrote something quickly on her clipboard. Ivan watched her warily and his eyes remained on her name tag which was clipped onto her pocket protector just above her breast. It read "Dr. Julia Everard." The blue haired woman tapped the clipboard lightly with the tip of her pen. "It seems you've gotten used to the pain. You're not making as much noise as you were a few days ago. It also seems as if your recovery process is speeding up." She looked down at him with her cold steel gray eyes. With a slight smirk, she kicked him in the shoulder again. "It seems like you're not that much of a failure after all. Now...get up. We still have much tests needed to be done." _

_"No more," he muttered. _

_"What?" _

_Ivan staggered to his feet. He still felt the pain from his last gruesome injury in his abdomen. Hatefully, he glared at the doctor. "I'm not doing anymore tests." _

_Dr. Everard let out a soft laugh. "Do you think you're in the position to choose that so freely? Need I remind you that you are our experiment? You belong to Omega Sector and I expect you to be a good little weapon for us." _

_"Shut up." _

_"Oh my...getting rather rebellious, aren't we? Too bad we aren't back in the molecular phase. You were nothing, but a few bubbles in our test tubes. Unable to say anything you wanted, unable to feel anythi-" _

_"Be quiet!" Ivan yelled. He attempted to jump the doctor, but he was held back by the restraints on his arms and legs. _

_"Dear me, those emotions are so troublesome, aren't they Ivan?" The doctor narrowed her eyes and slapped him hard across the face. "Let me repeat once again Ivan..." _

_The pirate felt his recovery process heal the bruise that was beginning to form on his cheek from where the doctor hit him. _

_"...You are nothing, but an experiment. You are a bioweapon only for our disposal. So don't you dare think for a second that you're a human being just like the rest of us..." _

_

* * *

_

"Ivan?...Ivan? Can you hear me?"

The blonde gunslinger blinked to snap out of his daze. He saw Minna standing over him, looking rather concerned. "Is everything alright?" she asked. "I said your name a few times, but you didn't even respond."

Ivan took a look around and saw that he was in Mushroom Park. He looked down at the soft green grass and figured he must have had a flashback. "I'm fine," he calmly stated. "I'm just a little bit tired."

"Oh...then maybe this'll wake you up!" Minna exclaimed, holding out one of the two ice cream cones she held in her hands. "It's a bit cold, so don't eat it too fast!"

Forgetting all about his flashback, Ivan curiously took the frozen treat. He stared at it as Minna took a seat next to him on the wooden bench. "What is this?" he asked.

"It's ice cream!" the cleric responded. She giggled when the vanilla ice cream he held was starting to melt. It dripped onto his hand and he seemed utterly confused. "You have to eat it before it melts into a puddle. Otherwise it won't taste as good."

Ivan carefully took a lick of the cold treat and found himself to like the sweet sensation, much like how he enjoyed the tarts and cupcakes Minna gave him.

Minna smiled when she saw him lap up the ice cream in an eager manner. "Isn't it good?" she asked. A giggle passed by her lips when he gave a slight nod before resuming his consumption of the ice cream. "I thought you'd like it."

After a while, they both finished their ice cream. It was silent between them for a long period of time. Minna had so many questions that she wanted to ask him, but for some reason she had a hard time asking him. She believed that they were questions that were pertaining to a sensitive matter and so she sat there next to him quietly, nervously fiddling with the hem of her pink cotton sundress.

"Are you curious about me?" he asked, looking at several butterflies that were fluttering around a patch of flowers before them.

"Eh? We-Well..."

"I think you know by now that I'm not human. You can't get past that obvious fact since I wasn't brought into this world like everyone else."

Minna lowered her head, knowing that what he was saying was true in reality. "I-I know," she stuttered out weakly.

After a long pause, Ivan muttered, "yet you risked yourself to try and save me."

"No no! Not everything! That's too much!" Minna laughed awkwardly, embarrassed with what Ivan said.

"Wouldn't you have been marked as a traitor for defending me?"

She shook her head. "A-Athena is kind, so she wouldn't-"

"You're too naive," Ivan cut in. "Do you think everyone is kind no matter who they are? Even Krylin?"

"M-Mayb-"

"Since you trust everyone, is that the only reason why you decided to trust me?"

"That's not it!" she exclaimed. Minna shook her head and faced him. "I...I wanted to trust you because..." She paused, unsure if she should say it or not. A faint blush tinted her cheeks when she thought about what she wanted to say to him.

"...Are you sick again?" he asked.

"Eh?" Minna flinched when he raised his hand to cup her cheek. Her blush intensified was he touched her face. "Wh-What do you mean?"

"You're getting red again like that other time you came to visit me." Ivan seemed genuinely curious as he brought his other hand up to the other side of her face.

The cleric timidly let out a soft sound of surprise at his touch. "It's nothing...!" She brought her hands up to his wrists and attempted to pull his hands away. "I'm not sick! It's just..." Finding herself unable to say what she actually felt, Minna shook her head and stood up from the wooden bench. "We should get you some new clothes!"

"Huh?" Ivan was a bit taken aback by her sudden exclamation.

"I think some people are staring at you since you're still wearing the bloodstained clothes from before!" She quickly grabbed both of his hands and helped him stand up. "There's a great tailor in town I know that could clean up and mend your clothes no matter how damaged they are! It's getting a bit late, so we should hurry!" Minna took hold of one of his hands and dragged him out of the park.

The blond quietly followed behind her. However, he was still curious as to the reason behind her rather erratic behavior she had around him.

* * *

"Where are you going now?"

Dante continued walking, but stopped soon after when he didn't hear a response from Alice. He raised an eyebrow and turned around to see what she was doing. Not much to his surprise, he saw her walking slowly towards him. Her head was bowed down as if she were pondering something very deeply, although Dante assumed she really wasn't. He waited to see if she would stop before she bumped into him, but she failed to do so.

Her head bumped into his chest first. This caught Alice by surprise, for she flinched and looked up at him with widened eyes, as if she were surprised that he was even there.

"Idiot, watch where you're going. This is exactly why I worry about you. I'm still waiting for the day you'll fall into a hole or a ditch because of you spacing out."

Indignantly, Alice took a step back and retorted, "I-I'm just tired, okay? I got up early in the morning just to return your stupid jacket anyways!"

"You didn't look that tired a while ago," he scoffed. Dante raised his hands and gave a lazy shrug. "Ah well, I guess it can't be helped. My martyr's just hopeless I suppose. All she does is daydream and run into people upon doing so." He let out a sigh at the end, agitating Alice further.

"I'm not hopeless! Just wait! Once we get a new quest, I'll be focused and ready!"

"Of course you will be," Dante said with a sarcastic undertone, of which Alice caught.

"I will!" she insisted.

"Hm, so then...you really were daydreaming just a second ago? I wonder just what you were daydreaming about?" Dante asked with a slightly sly smile.

"It's none of your business!" Alice turned away, blushing for the fact that she suddenly remembered what she was thinking about earlier.

The male archer took a step forward and leaned down slightly to meet her eye to eye. "I want to know what was on my martyr's mind that made her space out so much."

Alice glanced at him and mumbled, "it's nothing..." She looked at him again and almost subconsciously, her eyes rested on on his lips. Her cheeks flushed once more and her heartbeat sped up as she remembered how they felt over her own lips.

Dante chuckled softly when he saw where she was looking at. "You're still thinking about earlier, aren't you?"

"You're wrong! Stupid Dante!" Alice backed away from him a few feet. Her face was completely red and her fists were clenched tightly by her sides. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" she yelled at him. "If it wasn't for that...I would still have my first kiss!"

"Are you still going on about that?"

The blue haired girl let out a sharp exhale and yelled once more. "I was saving it for my special someone!"

"I thought you said you didn't have one!" Dante retaliated, getting slightly annoyed.

"I...I don't...yet," Alice mumbled in defeat. "But, I will! And when he kisses me, it'll only be the second kiss and that isn't as special!"

"Third kiss, you idiot."

"Th-Third?"

Dante let out a wry laugh and stated, "unfortunately, we had to kiss _two_ times. With how much you were daydreaming about it, you should at least know that!"

The warrior thought back and blushed when she remember that the second time was when Dante began using his tongue. "Y-You...I hate you! When I get a boyfriend, I'll definitely tell him to beat you up for taking my first kiss!"

"Good, then I have nothing to worry about since you'll never get one!" He tried to ignore her throwing obscene language at him as he turned around. Letting out a frustrated groan, Dante scratched the back of his head and shouted, "I'm leaving! This whole thing made me tired."

"Wait! I'm not done with you yet!" Alice called out after him as he started to walk away.

"Go home, you idiotic-" Dante stopped talking when a rock went flying past his head and made contact with a wooden post a few feet ahead of him. He laughed and turned around, amused with what she was doing. "You're actually chucking rocks at me? At least try to hit me instead of-" Before he could finish his sentence, Dante barely had time to dodge the next rock that came flying at him. Without any sort of warning, he immediately felt a sharp pain on his head from the rock striking him on the left side of his forehead.

"Stupid Dante!" was all he heard from her as she ran away quickly.

"Hey! You idiot! Get back here!" Dante didn't even bother running after her as his whole head started to ache from the impact. He let out a groan. "I can't believe she actually did that..." Hesitantly, he placed his hand over the area of where he was hit and looked at his hand. "Are you kidding me...?" he muttered when he saw blood lightly coating his palm. Dante started to slowly walk back to the barracks. "Great, I'm going to have to fix this up when I get back to my room." As he held his now throbbing head Dante couldn't help, but smile at Alice's childish behavior. Eventually he let out a brief, stifled laugh once he reached the barracks. "What the hell's wrong with me?" he asked himself while chuckling softly, finding it near impossible to get Alice out of his head.

* * *

Alice tried her hardest not to laugh as she ran away from him as fast as she could. Unfortunately, she eventually came to a stop as she fought to catch her breath in between her giggles. "I...I...can't believe I actually hit him!" she exclaimed, holding her stomach and laughing as she bent over. The shocked expression he had once the rock met his head made Alice burst into another fit of uncontrollable laughter. "And he calls me the idiot!"

As she made her way towards the house, Alice continued to giggle and attempted to stifle her laughter by holding a hand over her mouth. Once she got to the front door, she gave it a knock and waited for someone to open the door.

Not before long did the door finally open up. The warrior immediately felt her body stiffen up and the last traces of her laughter retreat when she saw who it was. "What are you doing here...?" In disbelief, she saw Ivan standing there in front of her.

"Oh Alice!" Minna poked her head out from behind the door frame. "I didn't expect you to stay out this late!"

"Eh? Uhm...well...just what is going on?" she questioned, finding the current situation to be terribly confusing.

"Oh, I should probably explain myself, shouldn't I?" the cleric said with a little smile. She looked towards Ivan and motioned for him to go back inside. "You can sit on the couches for a while Ivan."

Alice felt tense when he flashed her a rather cold glare before obediently following Minna's request. She let out a shaky sigh as she warily watched the gunslinger take a seat on the light blue couches. "What is he doing here, Minna?" Alice asked in a hushed tone.

"It's kind of a long story," Minna said with a sheepish giggle. "Athena said as long as he's with me, she won't put him back inside the prisons! Don't worry Alice! He's good now! He won't harm anyone!"

"But...Minna-"

"Oh! It's okay for him to sleep downstairs right?"

Alice unwillingly followed Minna into the house, closing the door behind her. The atmosphere felt heavy to her as she nervously darted her eyes towards Ivan every now and then. Much to her surprise, he remained silent for the whole time Minna was filling her in on his living conditions from now on. It didn't seem as though he was focused on the conversation for he continuously played with Alice's pet husky.

"That's okay with you, right?"

"Huh?" Alice focused her attention back onto the cleric standing in front of her. "Uh...o-of course!" she simply responded, not really knowing what Minna was talking about in the first place.

"Okay! Thank you so much Alice!" Minna let out a soft giggle as she embraced Alice tightly. "I hope everyone will be as supportive once they find out about what happened to Ivan."

"Wait, Minna? Did you run into my mom when you came here?" Alice asked, briefly stopping Minna from walking away.

"Huh? Your mother? No, only Sean was home when me and Ivan got here."

"I...I see." Silently, Alice figured that her mother was already making the trip back to Ossyria to continue with her work at Omega Sector. For that, she felt a bit relieved. The last thing that she wanted to do right now was to face her mother after what had happened earlier in the day.

Minna turned around and walked over to Ivan, who was sitting still as the pet husky pulled on one of the sleeves of the white cotton shirt he was wearing. "Dante, don't do that!" Minna gently scolded as she picked the growling puppy up. It ignored her and continued to bite down on Ivan's sleeve. By now, the shirt was already hanging off one of Ivan's shoulders, exposing a part of his chest.

Ivan watched the husky blankly for a while before muttering, "I don't think he likes me that much."

"He does like you! He's just showing that by pulling on your sleeve!" she responded with a light tone.

Alice tilted her head slightly in confusion when she saw how well Minna was conversing with Ivan. It seemed as though they were already rather close to each other, even though Ivan didn't seem to verbally express that. She shook her head and thought all this was just too much for one day. "I think I'll just go to sleep."

"Really? No dinner?"

"No thanks," Alice mumbled as she made her way up the stairs.

The small husky in Minna's arms abruptly let go of Ivan's shirt and began to fidget and whimper, silently telling the cleric to let it down. Before Minna could even let him down, the husky hopped out of her arms and scampered up the stairs, following Alice to her room. "I guess they're both tired," Minna said, laughing slightly.

* * *

"It's getting late."

"Oh? Am I sensing a bit of worry from you, Dark? Well now...that's a first," Athena said in response to his statement. She stood by the huge arched windows that let in the gentle blue moonlight as the rogue instructor slowly walked over to her."Did you need something? It's rather rare to see you still inside the council building at this time of night," she said to him.

Dark pulled down the mask that covered his nose and mouth so that he could speak better. "It wasn't by choice you know," he scoffed. "Grendel sent me here to keep you company."

"Company? Hmph, I don't need protection from the likes of you."

"It's not about protection! I know very damn well that you're capable of handling yourself," Dark grumbled. He held the back of his neck and stated to her in a rather grudging tone, "he thought...we should stick together. He told me he sensed some bad aura between us, whatever that's supposed to mean."

"Do _you_ think there's some bad aura between us, Dark?" Athena asked, looking out the window.

"I-I don't know. We get along better than Grendel does with Dances with Barlog. Hell...those two barely talk to each other. Even when they do, I can't understand a word about what they're saying."

The silvery haired elf held a hand up to her lips and let out a wry giggle. "They are considered to be older and wiser than us two, Dark. Besides, I don't expect you to understand what they say to each other even when I don't understand them either."

"Are you saying I'm denser than you?"

Athena turned towards him and smiled, "what do you think?"

"What kind of question is that?" he whispered under his breath, turning away from her. After a long period of silence between them, he spoke up once more. "I've heard that Krylin plans to launch an invasion in the next few months. Do you think you're ready for that?"

"I believe that...we are all ready for that invasion. The four of us, the members of the Aegis, our allies...no matter what, we can't let Krylin take over Henesys or Ellinea. We've already lost two of our other cities to her and her troops."

"...Is that why you're building ships at the shipping yard in Ellinea?"

The female archer remained silent, calmly looking out the window.

Dark questioned her again. "You're ordering those ships to be built just in case the invasion is successful, aren't you?"

"I won't let that happen," Athena responded, closing her eyes. "I need to defend Henesys with everything I've got. Those ships...those ships are only there so that the citizens of Victoria Island will be safe. I honestly don't know what Krylin is capable of at this point. She's managed to get ahold of so many resources that we weren't even aware of. One being that prisoner that was brought in a few weeks ago. He was apparently a biological weapon created by those crackpots at Omega Sector. They didn't even inform us of this project and somehow, Krylin managed to get to the bioweapon before us."

"You're losing confidence, aren't you?"

"What are you talking about? Of course not..."

"I've been working with you for so long Athena...I know when you're lying. You're terrible liar you know, always so very straightforward." Dark let out a soft chuckle. "Not that it's a bad thing. I think...it's very noble."

Athena let out a soft scoff as she smiled a little at the window. "I've never heard those words from you Dark. If you always talked like that, I might've considered giving you a bit more respect than you have right now." She turned to him and continued, "I'm only making those ships to protect those that are unable to fight. I don't want anymore meaningless casualties by those that couldn't defend themselves in the first place. I want to protect the people of Henesys and Ellinea, Dark. There's nothing more to it than that."

* * *

"That idiot," Dante grumbled as he leaned closer to the small mirror that hung in his room. He carefully placed a soft gauze pad on top of the cleaned up wound on his forehead and quickly taped it down. "She had better apologize for this." He inspected the fixed up wound by holding his bangs up with his hand. Once he found his work to be in satisfaction, he took his hand off of his head and let his midnight black bangs fall back over his forehead.

_'Oh my, such a nasty little injury.'_

Dante widened his red eyes and whipped around. He scanned the room quickly, but saw no one there. Tiredly, he relaxed and shook his head slowly. He figured that he was tired enough that he was beginning to imagine things. Quietly he took off his white shirt and clambered onto the bed. Suddenly he let out a wry laugh and muttered to himself, "maybe Alice hit me so hard that I'm just starting to hear voices."

_'I don't think you got hit that hard Dante...'_

His eyes widened as he quickly sat up in the bed. "Who's there?" he asked, starting to feel a cold sweat forming on his brow. Dante heard no response from anyone or anything as he sat there in the dark. Just as he was about to lie down again, he heard light footsteps upon the old wooden floorboards of his room. It was then that he saw a small girl with soft gray colored hair walking out from the she locked gazes with him, she let out a soft giggle. "Who are you?" Dante asked as he slowly got out of bed, feeling a bit wary of the little girl.

"It's been a while since I've seen you Dante. Do you miss me?"

"...Krylin...?" he whispered, widening his eyes.

She giggled again. "Correct." Krylin slowly made her way towards Dante. As she was doing so, Dante felt her eyes rake over his body. "How wonderful. Simply wonderful," the magician said as she stared at him with a crooked grin.

"What...is...?"

Krylin giggled. "I can't wait until my poison infects your whole body."

Dante narrowed his red eyes at her and felt his fingers twitch when he realized just how close she was to him. In a quick motion, he could easily kill her. "Why are you here in that form?" he asked her, wondering if he'll find the perfect opening at which to strike at her.

"Hm?" She looked down at herself and let out a dry laugh. "Do you know why I'm in the desperate need for a new body, Dante? Namely speaking...yours to be exact."

"Mine...? I thought-"

"If I wanted you as one of my soldiers, I would've placed you underneath a spell a long time ago. No, that poison I fed you will eventually force your soul out of your body for good. Once that happens, I'll transfer myself into your body."

"Why me?" Dante asked in a low whisper.

"Like I've said before...your body is strong, but your mind is weak. Did you know...? Sick people have the weakest minds? Most of them have lost the will to live so it's quite easy to force my soul into their bodies. However, since they are sick in the first place, their bodies become worn out quite quickly."

"What about your own?"

Krylin raised a hand to her lips and giggled lightly. "I was born a healthy child, but then I was struck down with an incurable illness. I refused to let myself succumb to death. Even now, my magic cannot keep my original, sickly body intact for much longer. That is where you come in Dante. You see...your soul will be quite easy to take out since deep down, your turmoils and unhappiness fuel your desire to leave this realm."

"That's...not true," he responded, clenching his fists tightly.

"Oh? Don't try to lie to me. I have the power to see inside your mind Dante. Your inner-most thoughts and emotions are shown to me clearly. Speaking of which...you have grown fond of a certain girl haven't you? I believe that she's your martyr?" Krylin laughed softly "I wonder if the poison will spread through your body faster if I introduce another tragedy into your life. Perhaps I should pay your little martyr a little visit soon-"

Without warning, Dante reached out and wrapped his hand around the small, thin neck of Krylin's current body. He whispered in a low, growling tone, "don't you dare...try to lay a finger on her." His red eyes flashed dangerously at the magician.

"Oh my, rather protective of her I see. Well, it's no surprise. I've known for quite a while that you fell in love with her. It's a bit sad that she's too dense to figure it out, isn't she? Even after you kissed her."

"She has nothing to do with any of this so leave her out of it!" he demanded roughly. Dante slowly began to tightened his grip around her fragile neck.

"Ah, ah," Krylin warned, showing no sign of fear of him. "Did you forget that this body doesn't belong to me? It belongs to a sweet little girl that's terribly sick at the Aegis infirmary. She's lost her will to live. All she does the whole day is stare out a window waiting for the day she dies."

Dante flinched at her words and slowly began loosening his grip. He eventually took his hand away from her completely. Unwillingly, he returned his hand to his side.

The female magician smirked and raised her small hand. "Unfortunately, if I was in my original body this sort of thing would never had happened. This little child's voice doesn't have the power to bind the likes of you. However..." Krylin waved her hand sharply and a ring of purple energy shot out from her fingertips. It immediately clasped itself around Dante's wrist and the force of it pushed him back against the wall. His wrist stayed pinned against the crude wall as he struggled to free himself. "Don't bother," she said, waving her hand again to produce another ring. It flew over to him swiftly and in a split second it pinned his other wrist to the wall.

Krylin crawled up onto the bed and came up to him with an evil smirk plaster upon her face. "It seems that your love for the little martyr will be your downfall if she doesn't do something about it soon."

Dante turned his head away in disgust. He was fed up with hearing what Krylin was telling him.

"However...it seems that you're turning over a new leaf because of her? You're becoming a bit more open and she makes you think about those awfully joyous thoughts. That could pose a problem to the poison I fed you." She lifted her hand up to his neck and lightly traced a circle on his skin with her index finger. "I can't let that happen, now can I?" she muttered lowly.

Before Dante could figure out what was going on, he felt a sharp pain on his neck. He let out a pained grunt and felt her blunt teeth dig deeper into his skin. Dante pulled at his binds in response to the growing pain. He let out short breaths and groans as he felt his warm blood starting to trickle down his back and shoulder. Much to his relief, Krylin stopped and licked her lips which were stained in his blood. She pulled away and laughed. "Did that hurt, Dante? I'm sorry. Our teeth really aren't meant for piercing skin."

He felt himself tremble as he leaned against the wall panting heavily. "If you're going to wreck the body you really wanted...what is the point?" he asked her in a rather weak tone.

She didn't respond as she pulled out a small vial from underneath her robes. "I'm not going to let that pitiful martyr of yours get in the way of my prize." Krylin popped the cork and poured the potion over his wound.

Dante clenched his teeth tightly and grunted as the potion began to slowly seep into his injury. It made hissing noises as it was quickly absorbed. He smelled a hint of burned flesh once the point was completely gone. Tiredly, he looked at Krylin in a hateful glare. "What did you do to me?"

"It wasn't anything harmful. It healed up your wound, see?" She ran her fingers over the area of where she had bitten him. When Dante continued to glare at her, Krylin giggled. "Don't look at me with those eyes. You should learn to love your master."

"You're not my master," Dante growled out, feeling himself slipping in and out of consciousness.

"But I will be eventually. You can't control it Dante. The potion I've given to you will speed up the process. How does a few months sound to you?"

The archer began breathing slower as his eyelids fluttered open and closed. He failed to produce a proper response as Krylin got off the bed. She chuckled as she watched him slowly lose consciousness. "Sweet dreams Dante. The next time you see me, you'll be mine."

He saw her disappear into the shadows. His head started to spin as the binds on his wrists disappeared. In the next second, Dante collapsed upon the bed, completely unconscious due to the potion.

* * *

**A/N** _Yes I know Krylin's creepy. By the way, I did state earlier that Krylin is old. I lied. She's around the same ages as Nackt. _

_And I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Krylin is a necromancer. I know there's no such thing in Maple, but I thought she should have a job no one else has in the story. That's pretty much how she could create her own undead army, reanimate the dead, and more creepy shit like that. _

_Third thing i must mention, I got over 50 unique visitors on the last chapter and only one review. I'm not going to bitch about it or anything, but I really do enjoy reading what other people have to say about my story. I read each and every one of the reviews left on my stories because it shows me that people are actually reading them (possibly enjoying them). So, I don't know what to say at this point. I know a lot of people are reading this story, I just wish that a few more people could review it. _

* * *

**Ivan Alfort:**

_Age: 18 years old  
Gender: Male  
Height: 6 feet (182 centimeters)  
Weight: 157 pounds (71 kilograms)  
__Eye color: Green  
Hair color: Blond (Bleached blonde)  
Class: Gunslinger  
__MapleStory in-game level (roughly): Level 85-100  
_

_Background:_ He was initially part of a bioweapon program at Omega Sector. Created to be the perfect arsenal towards the war, Ivan can withstand any attack and have instant regeneration of his wound. He has a strong dislike of Alice's mother, Julia, who was in charge of testing him and his abilities. She treated him as if he were an inanimate object as she did multiple experiments on him that were extremely painful. Unintentionally, he has a slight hatred for Alice as well, only because of the fact that she looks similar to her mother. Along with accelerated healing, he is agile and his precision with his gun can be considered to be at a higher level than Dante is with his bow.


	22. Relations

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Hermit  
_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

**Julia Everard - **_35 years old_

**Krylin - **_24 years old__ - Necromancer (Dark Cleric)  
_

_

* * *

_

**Aegis**

**Chapter 22: Relations**

A whole week passed since Alice had last seen Dante. At first she thought that he was simply busy and by chance, they had no time to run into each other as they taught at the Academy. However, after the third day, Alice had begun to worry. She wondered if he was mad at her for hitting him with a rock before.

"He's...not really that mad about that, is he?" she mumbled as she walked back to her house after a long day at the Academy. Alice let out a sigh and raised her hands above her head, stretching herself out. It was a long week, but finally the long awaited last day of instruction was finally over. For now she had nothing else, but free time on her hands. The thoughts of Dante being mad at her were quickly chased away by her newly found freedom. "This is fantastic!" she exclaimed happily. "I could sleep in now and best of all, I won't have to see that ugly, witch of a headmaster ever again!"

Feeling herself swell up with excitement, Alice arrived at her house and triumphantly opened up the front sweet aroma of baked goods met her as soon as she walked in and she knew that it was all because of Minna and their new house guest.

"Oh, Alice! Did you see Dante at the Academy today?"

The warrior shook her head and asked, "why?"

"Well, I don't think Ivan should eat all these sweets," Minna sheepishly replied, motioning to the colorful array of cupcakes set on the clean kitchen counter beside Ivan. The cleric laughed nervously again when Ivan stopped icing the cupcakes and looked at her in a grudging way. "It's not good to eat that many sweets, Ivan. I don't care if you don't get fat from them. They'll at least make you sick," Minna said sympathetically as she patted his shoulder.

Alice shook her head, still finding it hard to believe that just a few weeks ago the man beside Minna was trying to kill her. "So, did you want me to give some to Dante?"

The strawberry blond girl nodded. "I think he gets tired of the food they give at the barracks, don't you think so? I probably would anyways!" she commented as she sprinkled the cupcakes.

"Ah...I see," Alice contemplated, an idea forming in her head. "Maybe tomorrow, I'll try to see him. Truthfully, I haven't seen him the whole week. I'm not sure if he's even been coming to the Academy to teach. If he doesn't...the headmaster will probably report him to Athena."

Minna stopped what she was doing and thought back to the time she found Dante sick in his room. She silently hoped his disappearance wasn't because of the same reason as last time. "H-Hopefully you'll see him tomorrow!"

Alice noticed her change in behavior. "Is...everything okay Minna?"

"Eh?" The cleric widened her eyes and quickly denied it. "Of course everything's okay! Don't worry about a thing Alice!"

Ivan licked at some frosting that had gotten on his thumb. As he did so, he glanced at Minna suspiciously.

"I-If you say so..." Alice mumbled, shrugging her shoulders slightly. Quietly she left the two of them alone and went upstairs to her own room.

The pirate waited until Alice left before asking Minna, "why did you lie to her?"

"I didn't lie, what are you talking about Ivan?" With a slight giggle, Minna denied his question. "There's nothing to lie about."

"Of course there is. The tone of your voice changed when Alice mentioned Dante to you."

The female cleric stayed quiet for a while. Finally, she moved over to the finished cupcakes and stared at them for a while rather sadly. "I don't want to make Alice worry. That's all. And...I made a promise not to tell."

* * *

It was in the early morning that Dante woke up. He silently got out of the clean white bed and began to slip out of the plain white clothes that were provided for him. He didn't know exactly what had happened after his encounter with Krylin, but he knew that when he woke up he found himself at the Aegis infirmary. According to the nurses there, Cedric had brought him in on the same night that he had fallen unconscious on.

As Dante pulled on his black pants, a knock was heard on the door.

"Come in," he said as he reached for his white shirt that was lying on the bed.

The door opened up and he heard gentle, light footsteps coming up to him. "Good you're up. I was afraid you would still be sleeping." Dante recognized the voice to be Athena's.

"I don't want to stay here any longer," he mumbled as he pulled the shirt over his head.

"I figured you wouldn't."

Dante turned around to face her when he asked, "is there...something you wanted to tell me?"

Athena let out soft exhale as she turned back around to close the door behind her. She turned to him again. "When did you plan to tell me about what Krylin did to you?"

The black haired archer sat down on the bed as he began putting on his black leather boots. "I don't know," he muttered. "It's too late now anyways."

"Grendel kept sensing some dark aura in the Aegis and he eventually figured out that it was coming from you. When you were brought in a few nights ago, he confirmed it."

"I see," Dante replied curtly, taking his small potion pouch off of the nightstand. "Is it because of me that you won't let me and Alice go on a quest?"

Athena watched him strap the potion pouch on his thigh. "What will happen once you lose control? Alice is far less skilled than you and you two will be alone for most of the quest. What do you think will happen to her if you succumb to Krylin's power during that moment?"

"So...is that why you assigned us to do Academy work?"

"As a precaution," Athena simply stated. "In case you do lose control, at least you would be close to me and the other job instructors." She closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly. "Be careful Dante. You seem fine for now, but you will be closely watched."

Dante sat on the edge of the bed silently as Athena left the room. The cold hard truth of what really might happen to him ran rampant through his head. With a slightly trembling hand, he opened up the potion pouch strapped to his thigh and pulled out the small bottle containing the potion that Nackt had given him. He remember her words clearly; it would help drive out the poison that Krylin had given him. For a minute, he stared at it. The clear blue liquid danced inside the small vial, sparkling slightly when it caught the sun's rays. Afterwards, he let out a scoff and shoved it back into the pouch without a second thought.

"I doubt it," he simply muttered as he took his black coat off from the foot of the bed. He slipped it on and left the room.

As he was walking down the hallway, he barely noticed a young girl turning the corner before him. She bumped into him and she mumbled soft apology. Dante looked at her and felt himself freeze up a little when he recognized the girl to be the one that Krylin had used.

"It's...fine," he managed to say.

She smiled weakly and held her hand over her mouth as she let out a soft cough. Dante noticed dark rings around both of her eyes, indicating just how sick she was. He stood there for a while and watched her walk away slowly. She didn't seem to look back at him or acknowledge him in any special way. It seemed as though she was completely unaware that Krylin had taken possession of her body a few nights ago.

Dante suddenly felt a slight chill run through his body. He trembled and brought his hand up to the area that Krylin had bit him, almost as if it were a reflex. His ears began to ring slightly as he continued to walk out of the infirmary. All the while, he dragged his blunt nails over the area on his neck. He still felt the force of the bite on him.

"Oh, Dante...?"

The archer raised his head and saw Alice, along with Ada, standing before him. "Alice..." He stammered for a bit, for his mind was still clouded up by his own thoughts.

"I'll meet you at the training grounds, alright?" Ada said, sensing that Alice wanted to talk to Dante alone.

"Sorry," the blue haired girl apologized with a sheepish grin. She waved goodbye to the thief and turned her attention towards Dante. Alice smiled and asked, "uhm...are you okay?"

"For now," Dante replied. "I guess I caught a cold or something like that."

Alice nervously played with her fingers when she mumbled, "it wasn't...because of me that you ended up at the infirmary...right?"

"You?" Much to his surprise, Alice bowed deeply and apologized in a clear voice.

"I'm sorry! I was just frustrated at the time! I didn't even realize I threw a rock at you!"

Dante stood there quietly for a while, a bit taken aback by her sudden apology. He cleared his throat shortly afterwards and muttered, "idiot, get back up before people stare at us. It wasn't because of what you did that got me in the infirmary. I told you I just got a bit sick."

Alice slowly raised her head. "A-Are you mad at me for what I did to you?" She let out a little sound when Dante gently bumped her on the forehead with his knuckle.

He chuckled softly. "That was payback. Now we're even, deal?"

The female warrior blushed softly. "But-"

"Quit looking so guilty. I'm not mad at you, idiot." Dante smiled and ruffled up her blue bangs slightly. His expression however, slowly changed, making him seem somewhat melancholic. His hand lingered on her head for a while, which made Alice stare at him in surprise.

"Uhm...Dan...te?" she asked as he let his fingers run through the long lock of cyan hair that framed her face.

Dante began to remember what Krylin told him and how she threatened to target Alice. He lowered his red eyes and whispered, "be careful Alice."

"Eh?"

He let the last strands of her hair slip through his fingers and he brought his hand back to his side.

Alice looked up at him with her wide blue eyes and stuttered out, "uhm...what ex-exactly-?" Before she could finish her sentence, Dante gave her one last smile before turning around to leave. She watched him until he couldn't be seen anymore. All the while, confusion clouded her head over what he said. "I'm always careful, stupid Dante," she grumbled as she left in the opposite direction to go towards the training grounds.

* * *

"Fresh fish only for 50 mesos! Caught just this morning off Lith Harbor!"

Ivan stared blankly at the live Clang in the shallow tub before him. It seemed to stare back at him as it waved its claws at him in an almost threatening way.

Minna finished buying from the seafood vendor and went over to the gunslinger's side. "We still need to get some vegetables!" She smiled when he merely nodded slightly in response. "Sorry for dragging you out so early in the morning. I really wanted to get here before it gets too crowded, but I guess that didn't work out too well." She giggled nervously as they were surrounded by dozens of people trying to buy from the street markets.

As they walked by a vendor selling fresh meats, a woman off in a hurry somewhere, bumped into Minna's shoulder. the cleric let out a surprised cry as she lost her balance, but luckily Ivan caught her before she could fall. Minna blinked a few times before she looked up at him and laughed. "I'm sorry."

Ivan held onto her tightly as he helped her back up. "It's fine," he muttered. "It's too crowded here anyways."

"I guess you're right," Minna giggled, flashing him a little smile.

The blonde averted his gaze to the ground, feeling his heart speed up when he saw her smile.

"Uhm...Ivan?"

"...?"

"Y-You don't have to keep your arm around me. I won't fall again," she nervously said.

"It's crowded here," he simply stated, gently holding her around her small waist.

Minna held the handle on the basket of food and blushed. "Perhaps it is." She didn't argue with him any further than that. It wasn't because of any other reason. It was just that truthfully, she didn't want him to let go of her.

Once Minna bought a variety of fresh vegetables, she and Ivan made their way back towards Alice's house. As they walked further away from the marketplace, the number of people dwindled until the streets were finally open for them to walk freely.

"Hm, maybe I should make a casserole. Although, I'm not sure if Sean with like a spinach casserole that much," Minna laughed while rubbing the back of her head. She continued talking aimlessly to herself about what she should prepare for each meal for the whole week. As she did so, Ivan walked beside her silently. He no longer had his arm around her, but he stayed close to her nevertheless.

When they passed a short alleyway, he heard a soft cry. Ivan stopped briefly and looked towards the origin of the sound. He saw a couple standing just a few feet away from him. The man had his back turned to him and he was attempting to comfort the woman. Ivan watched them silently as the man embraced the woman tightly. She continued to cry into his chest as she too, held him. Then the man pulled away just slightly so that he could wipe away her tears and kiss her.

Ivan watched them, slightly confused before Minna came up to him.

"What's wrong, Ivan?" she asked. The cleric looked at the couple and sadly commented, "he must be going to fight in the war." Minna tugged at Ivan's white cotton sleeve. "We shouldn't stare at them. Let's just go home, okay?"

The gunslinger nodded and followed her again. He took one last look at the couple and then back at Minna. He wondered if the hug that she had given him was the same action that the couple was doing earlier. Ivan then raised his hand up to his mouth and lightly brushed past his lips with his fingers. He didn't exactly understand what the couple did afterwards, but he had a feeling that Minna wouldn't be able to provide a straight answer for him. It made it all the more confusing.

* * *

The sharp noise of metal clashing against each other filled the surroundings. It cut through the silence of the early morning like a sharp knife.

Alice swung her polearm to deflect a few of the tobis that Ada had thrown at her. She barely braced herself from the thief when Ada charged forth and began using her avenger star as a close combat weapon. Alice's Evicerator and Ada's avenger star created sparks from the tense friction between the two metals.

"Is that all you got, Alice?" Ada asked with a slight smirk.

The warrior grinned and managed to push her friend away with the polearm. "Don't bet on it." The two girls charged towards each other again. Alice took a wide overhead swing at Ada, but the thief disappeared in a flash before her eyes. The dark blue polearm crashed into the ground, embedding itself rather deeply into the ground.

"You're wide open!" Ada exclaimed.

Alice turned her head up and saw the thief coming down from above. To retaliate, Alice tightly grabbed her polearm and pushed herself off the ground, doing a simple flip. Ada disappeared in a flash again, avoiding the flip kick that Alice delivered. However, she barely dodged the second, unexpected attack from when Alice landed on her feet and freed her polearm from the ground. The heavy weapon swung in a huge arch and it barely missed the agile thief.

Ada, throwing slightly off balance, still managed to land on her feet. However, she was a bit shaken by the near hit. "You've improved," the black haired girl stated, brushing back her long bangs that covered her right eye, only to have them fall back in place.

"So have you," Alice responded with a grin.

Both girls were breathing heavily for they had been sparring each other until the sun was high up in the sky.

"So...how is it living with Ivan?" Ada asked the warrior. They both decided to call it a day and take a break by lying down on the grass.

"Well, I try not to run into him too much," Alice replied, laughing lightly. "I don't think he likes me all that much. Minna said that it's because I remind him of my mother."

"That's stupid," the assassin commented, scoffing lightly. "What does he expect? You _are_ your mother's daughter. How could you not bear a resemblance to her?"

Alice smiled. Oh how she missed Ada's blunt, straight-forward comments. "It's fine though. It seems that he gets along just fine with Minna, so that's all right with me."

Ada let out a tired sigh. "That Minna...only she would go off and befriend our enemies. I _did_ mention that I worry about her, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good, because I do."

The blue haired warrior laughed and sat herself up. She turned herself around to look at her friend. "Are you going to go away for a quest soon, Ada?"

"I guess you didn't hear that Cedric got banned from all quests for a few more days." Ada sat up also and clicked her tongue sharply. "He's so useless. All he does he run around and cause all sorts of trouble. And he's supposed to be my platoon leader."

"Dante told me once that Cedric is a good fighter."

"We get such easy quests that he barely does anything except fall into a hole or get bitten by something poisonous or he gets cut by some tree branches. It's always _"save me Ada!"_ That's all I hear from him." Ada clicked her tongue again as she folded her arms over her chest. "I don't know if he's just holding out on me or if he's really that stupid."

Alice smiled when she a faint blush on Ada's cheeks. "Maybe someday he'll be useful to you." She wondered if Ada knew that her cheeks were starting to become a rosy red the more they talked about Cedric.

Ada huffed. "He better be! That stupid, womanizing idiot!" The thief seemed rather embarrassed by her sudden outburst. She coughed slightly and mumbled, "so...is everything okay with Dante? He's not acting like a jerk towards you, is he?"

"Eh? N-No! Of course not! Not anymore!" Alice laughed childishly as she scratched her cheek with her index finger. "I think...we get along now to some degree." She felt butterflies in her stomach when she remembered the things that had happened between her and Dante in the past few weeks.

"Well that's good. I thought he was still acting like an asshole to you."

Alice shook her head. "He's...nice to me now. But...I did throw a rock at his head a few days ago."

"What?" Ada widened her gray eyes in surprise. "Did he get mad at you?" she asked.

The warrior raised her hand up to her forehead and kept it there. She still felt his knuckles bump gently against her head.

_"That was payback. Now we're even, deal?" _

Alice smiled at his words and shook her head slowly. "He didn't."

Ada noticed her friend's gentle expression and smiled, starting to see what was going on. "Wow, he really did change towards you then." She grinned and laid back down on the grass. "I was going to beat him up if he kept being mean to you. I guess I won't have to now!"

The warrior laughed softly. "Even if he still was, you don't have to go that far!"

* * *

"I heard that you were taken to the infirmary. Is everything alright?"

Dante felt the cool night breeze wash over his skin. His black bangs gently tickled his eyelashes and he tried to sweep them off to the side. He didn't look at Rose when she sat down next to him. "It was just because of a little cold."

The red head smiled and said, "remember what I said earlier, Dante? You're a terrible liar." She noticed his uneasiness, so she backed off the question. "Well, it doesn't matter. I shouldn't pry into your personal life." Rose lowered her head slightly to look at a few fireflies that were fluttering around on the grass. "You used to tell me everything though," she said rather sadly.

Dante felt a slight pang of guilt as he turned his head to look at her. "Rose...it's not like I...well it's just that-" He found himself to be stammering and struggling to find the right words.

Rose laughed suddenly, surprising Dante. "I know, I know. We're both so busy with our work that we just don't have the bond we used to have. It's fine Dante."

The male archer lowered his gaze and turned away from her. To this, Rose giggled and placed her hand on his head. "Don't look so depressed about it!" She messed up his hair slightly. "Okay?"

Dante fixed up his hair and grumbled, "fine."

"That's a good boy," she said with a smile. Rose scooted closer to him on the bench and hugged him tightly. She buried her face in his shoulder and she whispered softly, "you'll always be my cute little brother, no matter what."

* * *

**A/N **_Thank you so much for all the reviews! I honestly thought that I would get maybe 3 reviewers maximum. (Plus, I thought only like...3-4 people actually read this story lol)_  
_Sorry if this chapter's short. (Only 4128 words /sadface) The next chapter will definitely be longer and the action shall commence once again!__ I'll answer some of the questions that you guys have asked in the next chapter!_

_And if anyone's interested, the guy in my profile icon is Dante. (My horrible drawing skills lol ) _

_As always, read and review!  
_


	23. Fear

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Hermit  
_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

**Julia Everard - **_35 years old_

**Krylin - **_24 years old__ - Necromancer (Dark Cleric)_

_

* * *

_

**Aegis**

**Chapter 23: Fear  
**

Minna opened up her eyes when she heard a sound coming from downstairs. Still in a sleepy daze, she looked outside and saw that the sun wasn't even out. Curiously, she climbed out of bed and quietly walked out of her room.

"Is someone there?" she asked as she walked down the stairs while rubbing her eye. She widened her eyes when she saw Alice in the kitchen. "Alice? What are you doing?"

"Eh?" The warrior turned around, surprised by the presence of Minna. "O-Oh! I was just-!" She gasped when she suddenly lost her hold on the giant mixing bowl in her arms. Minna flinched when it went crashing onto the floor. The cleric looked at Ivan, who was sleeping on the small couch. He had his head underneath the sheets; no doubt that he was trying to block out the commotion that Alice was creating.

"Alice...what exactly are you doing?" Minna asked as she walked over to her. The cleric saw her friend's face turn a slight red at the question.

"We-Well...I was thinking about what you said yesterday...a-about the food at the barracks and stuff. Plus, Dante told me he was sick for the whole week and I _did_ hit him with a rock. Even though he said that was okay, but still," Alice mumbled, turning away slightly so that Minna couldn't see her blush.

The orange haired girl looked at her for a while before giggling softly. "Do you need help then? You're planning to make a lunch for him, aren't you?"

Alice nodded slightly, a bit embarrassed by the mess she caused.

* * *

"Like...this?" Alice asked, balling up the handful of sticky rice to the best of her abilities. She showed it to Minna, who gave it a nod.

"That looks about right!" the cleric said rather cheerfully.

By the time Alice was done making the lunch, it was already nearly noon. Unfortunately for her, cooking wasn't her area of expertise, unlike Minna.

Alice closed the lid on the lunchbox and let out a sigh of relief, feeling accomplished with what she had done. "I guess I'll just go give this to him right now since the Academy's probably on a lunch break," Alice said as she looked at the ornately carved wooden clock hanging on a wall nearby.

"Not yet!" Minna suddenly exclaimed. She went up to Alice and stated in an almost serious manner, "you need to present it in a certain fashion!"

"Eh?...Certain...fashion?"

The orange haired girl nodded quickly and went over to a drawer next to the small stove. She opened it and from there she pulled out a blue checkered fabric. "It looks weird just to give him a white box! That's why you wrap it up in cute little cloths like these!" Minna exclaimed as she expertly wrapped up the lunchbox in mere seconds.

"Ah...well, I suppose so," Alice laughed nervously, a bit surprised at how aggressively Minna was tackling this.

"And you need to dress nicely as well!"

"Eh?"

Minna turned her around and guided her over to the stairs. "Dante will be so much happier if he sees that you dressed up for him just to bring him lunch!"

"B-But Minna! I'm just going to bring him lunch!" Alice protested as they approached the stairs. "Besides, you know I don't have nice clothes!"

"I'll let you borrow mine again!"

The warrior helplessly looked at Ivan, even though she knew that he wouldn't do anything about it. Sure enough, he simply glanced at her while sitting on the coach. Without another look, he went back to eating his plate full of cookies. Alice inwardly felt disappointed as Minna rushed her up the stairs.

"Hurry, hurry! You'll be late if you keep this up!" the cleric giggled as she led Alice into her room.

"Minna! I really don't think-"

"Relax Alice! Dante _is_ a boy you know?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Alice exclaimed just as Minna shut the door to the room.

* * *

_"I look ridiculous..." _

Alice tightly held the cloth wrapped lunchbox in her arms. She walked very slowly, trying her hardest not to fall in the white sandal heels that Minna let her borrow. It didn't help in the very least that Minna gave her the shortest skirt that she had ever worn. The frilled lacy white skirt barely covered what it really needed to. "I told Minna that my clothes are too small for me," the warrior mumbled under her breath.

"Uhm...A-Alice?"

The blue haired girl froze before she could take another step. She immediately recognized the voice to belong to no one other than Xin. Her heart thumped wildly and instantly, a blush made its way onto her face.

"Can we talk...?" he asked her.

Alice opened her mouth, but no words came out. She was so instilled with fear that she didn't dare turn around to face him.

"I...understand that you're probably mad at me. Even though you said you were okay," Xin said, his voice sounding as if it were filled with guilt and concern. "I...uhm...I really didn't know that you liked me that much."

Alice heard him take a step towards her.

"I really, really sorry Alice. I mean it. I looked back at what I said to you before and...it was wrong of me to have led you on like that. But, I really meant it when I said I cared about you."

"I-It's fine!" Alice managed to tell him. She gasped when she heard him take another step towards her. "It's really fine!" she shouted. Her voice seemed to tremble all on its own as she turned around to face him. Alice widened her eyes in fear when she saw just how close he was to her. "I...I...-"

"Hey! You idiot martyr!"

A sudden wave of relief washed over Alice when she heard Dante's voice. She turned around and saw him approach her with a seemingly annoyed expression. "Dant-"

"You were supposed to meet me a long time ago! You were late so I had to run around trying to find you!" he yelled at her. "Come here," Dante grumbled, roughly taking her by the wrist.

Alice held onto the lunchbox with her other hand as she was dragged away. A part of her was truly grateful towards Dante for allowing her to avoid Xin, however, the other half of her felt rather compassionate for the crusader. Alice swallowed harshly and glanced back towards the black haired warrior. She saw his concerned expression as she was being dragged away by Dante. It made her heart ache slightly, knowing that she couldn't say anything to him.

Once Dante and Alice both arrived at a secluded part of Mushroom Park, he let go of her and sighed.

"Idiot, you had to have known you would run into him sooner or later."

Alice nodded. "I-I know. I don't know why I couldn't say anything to him." She paused for a bit and hesitantly looked up at the archer. "U-Uhm...thank you, Dante," she smiled slightly afterwards.

Dante turned away from her, suddenly feeling his heart jump. "Idiot," he mumbled, "it was just painful to watch you go through that. It was like watching an orange mushroom get helplessly slaughtered and there's nothing you could do about it."

"Are you comparing me to an orange mushroom?" Alice asked in a low tone, resisting the urge to hit him.

"That's what metaphors are for, idiot."

Huffing, Alice glared at him and yelled, "I even made lunch for you! You should be thankful!"

"Lunch?" Dante immediately had the lunchbox shoved into his arms when he turned around to face her again. He blinked and stared at the neatly wrapped box for a while before looking back at Alice. It all slowly began to click. "Hey...don't tell me you're dressed like that because of this," he said, pointing to the lunchbox.

Alice blushed and shouted, "fine! If you really didn't want to eat it that much, then give it back!" She made a motion to grab it from him, but he held it high above his head and out of her reach.

"Who said I won't eat it, idiot?"

Eventually, the two settled down on the soft grass and things grew quiet as Alice anxiously waited for Dante to eat. However, as soon as he opened the box, he blinked a few times before asking, "is that...a bubbling?"

Alice leaned over and peered inside. She nervously nodded her head. "I think you mentioned a long time ago that you liked those bubbling monsters."

"So that's why you shaped all the rice balls into that shape...?" Dante saw her nod again. He let out a sigh and didn't even bother asking how she managed to turn them blue. A bit hesitantly, he took one of the bubbling rice balls and ate it. Unfortunately, he was caught off guard by the intense bitter taste of it and immediately, he began coughing.

"D-Does it really taste that bad?" Alice asked.

Dante managed to swallow it all. He coughed and asked, "what the hell did you put in it? It tastes just like a mana potion..." When he saw her bow her head slightly, he narrowed his eyes and sighed, "don't tell me you actually used those to make these blue colored?"

When Alice remained silent, it automatically answered his question. Dante sighed again, but noticed her slightly saddened expression. He looked down at the lunch and then managed to stomach another rice ball. When Alice heard him coughing again, she raised her head and looked at him in surprise.

The male archer held his hand over his mouth and noticed her looking him. "Why do you look so surprised?"

"Doesn't it...taste bad?"

Dante ate another one and he winced before swallowing it. "You made this for me right? Don't mistake yourself, it tastes terrible. But I'll eat it since you took the time to make it," he mumbled, a bit embarrassed with what he confessed.

Alice stared at him for a while before giggling.

"What are you laughing about?" Dante grumbled. He eventually smiled slightly as she continued to giggle. "Idiot..."

* * *

"You really didn't have to eat all of it..."

"If I didn't eat it, you probably would have thrown it away."

Alice tried to wrap the now empty lunchbox, as neatly as Minna had done earlier. "Do you need to go back to the Academy now?" she asked.

"Classes were cut short today. The instructors all needed to be at a meeting, excluding me of course," Dante chuckled.

The warrior smiled and finished wrapping up the lunchbox in a rather messy knot. She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them when she asked, "hey, Dante?"

"Hm?"

"Did you...ever like someone? Not _"like"_, but _"like like"_?"

Dante looked at her oddly. "What's with that random question all of a sudden?"

"I'm just asking," Alice mumbled.

"Why? Are you jealous?" he asked.

The blue haired girl widened her eyes and blushed profusely. "St-Stupid Dante! I'm just curious! As if in hell I'd be jealous over something concerning you!" she shouted in defense.

Dante laughed softly and fell back on the grass. "Well...since you're curious, I guess I'll tell you that I do like someone."

"R-Really?" Alice asked, sounding slightly surprised.

The archer turned his head to look at her and said, "but I think she's too dense to figure it out."

"Why don't you tell her you like her then?"

"It's a rather complicated situation. It's not like something you'd understand, idiot," Dante sneered, only serving to agitated Alice. He ignored the obscenities that she threw at him and simply stood up from the ground. "If I tell her, it might only cause her to be distracted."

"Eh?"

Dante looked down at her and held out his hand. "Was that good enough of an answer for you?" He smiled softly, which caused her heart to skip a beat.

Alice nodded as she took his hand. When he helped her up onto her feet, she winced slightly as soon as she put weight on her right foot. "S-Sorry," she stuttered. "I told Minna her shoes wouldn't exactly fit me." She laughed lightly as she attempted to stand up again.

The black haired archer let out a tired sigh and knelt down on the grass. "Lift your foot," he told her.

Confused, Alice lifted her foot just as he said. She immediately blushed when he began taking off the sandal from her foot. "I-I could have done it myself!" she exclaimed.

Dante didn't respond as he finally released the last buckle on the sandal and held it up to her. "I can't believe you would still want to walk even when your feet are that bruised up." He held her foot for a while and ran his thumb over a tender, red spot on her skin that was caused by the constricting sandal. Alice flinched and turned her head away. Dante stood up again and motioned to her. "Get on," he said, turning his back towards her and lowering himself slightly.

Alice blinked and remained stubborn for a while, finding it embarrassing.

He turned his head slightly to look at her and said, "do you want to bruise up your other foot as well? Or do you want to walk home with only one shoe on?"

The warrior blushed and climbed on him. She hesitantly placed her arms on his shoulders, feeling her heart hammer away at her chest. When he stood up and hooked his arms underneath her legs, she gasped in surprise.

"Hey, hold on to me properly unless you want to fall off."

Alice let out a huff and shyly wrapped her arms loosely around his neck. She gently rested her head against his back and grumbled, "stupid Dante." When she heard him chuckle, she felt her blush flare up again on her cheeks. Because of that, she was partially grateful that he couldn't see her.

As he walked out of the park, Alice kept her head where it was. She closed her eyes and found that the warmth from Dante's body was comforting. Alice moved her head slightly just so she could take in his scent. He smelled rather singed and she assumed it was because of the fire based spells he casted along with his archery.

"Are you awake?"

"Eh?" Alice snapped out of her daze and opened her eyes.

"We're almost at your house," he stated.

"O-Oh...already?" she asked, laughing slightly.

Dante remained silent for a while before asking her, "is something on your mind?"

"Huh? N-No, of course not! I'm just a little bit tired, that's all!"

"Are you still worried about Xin?"

Alice widened her eyes at his question. She tightened her hold around him just slightly and placed her head against his broad shoulders once again. "I'm not that worried now...but...maybe...a little," she admitted.

"I see," Dante muttered. He didn't need to ask her whether or not she still liked him. It was obvious that she had lingering feelings for the crusader. Not too long after, they arrived in front of Alice's house. Dante let her down carefully on the front steps, just in front of the door. He looked at her and saw her rather sullen expression, no doubt that it was caused by him mentioning Xin again. "You can choose to forget him and move on or you could continuous to hold onto the past."

"Eh?" Alice raised her head to face him. She tightly held onto the lunchbox and the sandal in her hands. "I'm not sure if I can, to be honest," she whispered. "I-I mean...I know I shouldn't think about him so much...but I can't help...but wonder what would have happened if he did like me back." Alice realized what she had just said and tried to laugh it off. "Sorry! That was...that probably sounded really stupid. I shouldn't...I really shouldn't linger on something like a one-sided love, right?"

Dante lowered his eyes slightly. "It's not always a bad thing, I guess. Frankly, you'll never know." He looked at her in the eyes again. "I only brought him up because it looked like you were distracted." Dante walked up and stood directly in front of her.

"Ah...I see," Alice looked away, finding both his height over her and his red eyes to be rather intimidating. "I-I'll try my best to forget about it. I mean...if it's causing me to be distracted then...that's not good right? Especially since I need to be protecting you!" she laughed sheepishly.

"Idiot," Dante muttered, gently sliding his hand underneath one of her pigtails. He brought his hand to her cheek and lifted her face up. "I'll be the one protecting you," he said with a slight smile.

"...Huh?" Alice felt as if everything around her paused when she saw Dante lean down and place a kiss on her cheek. Her face turned a lovely shade of pink when she felt his lips on top of her skin. Her knees nearly buckled from underneath her when he pulled away. "Wh-What was that for?" she stuttered out.

Dante smiled again, amused at how she reacted to his simple gesture. "For the lunch, idiot." He chuckled when he saw her cheeks flare up again. "Take care of yourself," he said as he turned around to leave.

The blue haired girl stood there for a while, in a partial daze. She finally tightly clenched her fists and shouted, "you could have just said 'thank you'!"

* * *

"It's much worse than what we anticipated, ma'am."

Athena held the scout information scroll in her trembling hands. She tried her best to not lose her composure, but Dark, who was sitting beside her, noticed immediately. The silver haired elf rolled up the open scroll and cleared her throat. "So...Krylin already has an army that far outnumbers us?"

Rose nodded. "It seems that we've underestimated her and her capabilities. I've noticed that the Aegies foot soldier numbers are diminishing as the weeks pass by. I suspect that many are being drawn to Krylin's power." The sniper was also beginning to notice Athena's growing anxiety. "I am aware...that the Aegis are building ships on the dock in Ellinia."

Both Athena and Dark widened their eyes.

Rose remained oblivious to the reaction and calmly stated, "I speak only for the best interests of the remaining citizens on Victoria Island. Our only choice right now should be to flee."

Athena bowed her head and closed her eyes. "Unfortunately...I think you are right, Rose."

Dark looked at the archer in slight surprise because of her response.. "Athena..."

"We need to." Athena set the scroll down on the desk and said softly, "if these numbers are indeed accurate, then...we have absolutely no chance at winning against Krylin's army."

* * *

"You need to hold the bow firmly. It'll help with your accuracy."

Alice was sitting on the ground, silently watching Dante conduct his last day of instruction with his class. She leaned against the building behind her and looked up at the sky. The clouds floated across the sky lazily and she soon became entranced by them.

"Oh! I missed again!"

The warrior focused her attention on the class again and saw that it was one of the girls that had exclaimed. Alice watched her shoot off another arrow with her blue bow and miss the target completely. The girl whined again in response.

"I keep missing! What am I doing wrong?" she asked, just as Dante came over to her.

"You're not pulling your bow back enough. See? All the arrows you've shot haven't even reached the target," Dante pointed out to her. He then took her arms and fixated them to a shooting position. "Your arms are too weak. Archery is all about upper body strength," he stated as he helped her right hand hold the arrow tightly. "Like that...got it?" He stepped away from her to let her shoot the arrow once more, but it fell short of the target again.

Alice watched as Dante helped her again, adjusting the position of her arms and holding onto her shoulders from the back. The warrior felt her chest tightening up slightly when she saw the girl blushing as Dante taught her how to shoot properly. "She's just pretending to miss," Alice grumbled, pulling her knees up to her chest. She looked away from the class, unaware that her blue eyes were narrowed in an annoyed glare. When she finally realized what she was doing, Alice widened her eyes and raised her head. _"I-I'm not jealous! Stupid...why would I ever get jealous over something like that?" _

She glanced at the girl again and she saw her lean up against Dante a little bit more than necessary. Alice looked away again and mumbled, "stupid Dante...at least notice that all the girls in your class are looking at you."

It was a few more minutes before Dante dismissed the class. Some of the females came up to him after wards and expressed their distress over him leaving.

Alice stood up from the ground and dusted off the dirt on the plates of thin steel armor surrounding her black skirt. She walked up to Dante just as the girls said their goodbyes to him. "They seemed rather nice," she stated in a rather sour manner.

Dante sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "It's only because I was their instructor." He glanced at Alice and asked, "do you think it's because of something else?"

The warrior shook her head stubbornly as they walked out of the Academy grounds. "O-Of course not!" she lied quickly. However, she knew that Dante saw right through that.

"You don't need to get jealous over them, idiot."

Alice lowered her head, blushing out of embarrassment. "I-I wasn't-"

"I saw you while you were waiting for me. You_ were_ jealous," he chuckled.

"I was not!" Alice retorted forcefully. She balled her hands up into fists and shouted, "don't make up stupid assumptions by yourself!"

"If it's not true, then why are you so embarrassed right now?"

Alice looked away from him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Hmph! I'd never get jealous over you." She heard him laugh softly again. "A-Anyways...what kind of quest did Athena say she's going to give us next?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"She didn't tell me. It was only this morning that she sent me a scroll saying to meet her in the council building after I finish up at the Academy."

The warrior tilted her head back to look up at the sky again. All the clouds from earlier had disappeared completely. "I hope she'll actually let us go outside of Henesys this time!"

"Maybe."

"I wonder why Athena assigned us to the Academy though. It's really random, to be honest."

"Yeah...it was," Dante muttered, remembering the real reason why Athena assigned them there in the first place. _"In case you do lose control, at least you would be close to me and the other job instructors." _As Athena's words echoed in his head, Dante subconsciously brought his hand up to his neck. His hand covered the area where Krylin had bit him and he suddenly felt completely vulnerable.

"Dante?"

The archer blinked and snapped out his daze. He looked at Alice, who was looking up at him with slight concern. "W-What?" he stuttered out.

"I asked you a question."

"You...did?"

Alice looked irritated as she shouted at him. "If you were going to ignore me, at least be less obvious about it!"

"Shut up, idiot. I was just thinking," he snapped back at her.

Bitterly, Alice grumbled, "well...I asked you if we might be...going to war soon."

Dante scoffed and stated, "you were worried about that?"

"Aren't you?" the warrior asked. "It's going to happen eventually, isn't it?"

"Probably." He glanced at her and noticed her genuinely worried expression. "Don't worry about it for now. You're a martyr, you'll probably never even come close to fighting in the war."

"What about you...?"

Dante stopped to face her. "I do have my own platoon to run you know, Alice."

"So...that means-?"

"What do you expect the soldiers in my platoon to do without me? Someone has to be there to give them orders." Dante let out a sigh and turned away. "Whatever, let's just get to Athena before it gets too late and stop worrying about such useless things too much."

When they finally arrived at the council building, they went inside and was immediately greeted by Athena at the door. "Good you came just in time," she said, looking slightly disoriented.

"Is this urgent?" Dante asked her, taking note of her anxiety.

Athena cleared her throat and tried to uphold her composure. "Let's go inside first. I'll inform the two of you what you need to accomplish."

* * *

"In the next few months?"

"Yes." Athena closed her eyes and admittedly said, "it troubles me greatly. Along with the number of troops Krylin has gathered..." She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"No way...only a few months?" Alice whispered, trembling slightly. "What can we do?" she asked the elf.

Athena let out one last sigh before standing up straight once more. She looked at them with her piercing icy blue eyes and stated, "the most we can do now is to try and hold off the invasion as long as we can. Perhaps even weaken it. The two of you will head up north to Perion. There is a small cell there. They supply Krylin's army with weapons and with sensitive information concerning us. I want both of you to take out that cell for those reasons."

Dante nodded in response to her request, but asked her, "what do you mean 'weaken'? Is the war really getting that bad?"

Athena remained silent for a period of time. She turned away from them and looked up at the tall arched windows in the huge council room. "Get going as soon as possible," she said, brushing aside Dante's question. "Perion's high cliffs can be rather intimidating when the sun goes down."

Lowering his red eyes, Dante gave a slight bow and turned towards the door. "Let's go then," he muttered to Alice.

"Eh? U-Uhm...yeah." Alice took one last look back at Athena, who was still facing the arched windows. She couldn't help, but notice the tone of distress in Athena's tone when she spoke to them about the war.

Dante closed the door to the council room after Alice exited. "We can't take a scroll like we could for Ellinia, so we'll need to cut through the Dungeons if we want to get there before nightfall," he informed her as they began walking down the long corridor.

"Mm," the warrior replied softly. It was obvious to him that Alice was distracted.

"Are you thinking about what Athena said to us?" Dante asked.

"S-Sorry. I just...I can't believe that we'll be going to war so soon. I thought we would have more time."

"Does it scare you?"

Alice bit her bottom lip and stared at the wooden floorboards below her feet. "I'm not sure, to be honest." She held both of her hands tightly in front of her chest. "When I joined the Aegis, I joined because I wanted to end the war. I never actually thought that an opportunity would arise so suddenly."

When they both got out of the building, Dante walked down the front steps and stopped. He looked down at Alice and told her, "I told you. You're a martyr. Athena probably won't force you to go into battle."

"But-" Alice was cut off when Dante placed his hand on her head.

"I told you before that I would be the one protecting you. Don't think I'll back out of that promise." He chuckled when he saw her cheeks turning a soft pink. "You'll be fine. Okay?" Dante smiled at her as she nodded.

_"I couldn't tell him..." _

Alice walked beside Dante in silence as they made their way towards the east gate of Henesys. _"Why is it that I find it okay if I end up getting killed in this war? Why is it that I'm not fearing for my own life...?" _She looked up at Dante and looked away before he caught her staring.

_"Why is it that I worry more about you, Dante?" _

_

* * *

_

It was completely lifelessly and dreary. The sunset painted the sky in a beautiful array of orange, pink, and red colors, but for some reason it looked rather morbid as both Alice and Dante stood there at the bottom of a steep valley. Alice looked around at the high cliffs that surrounded them from all sides and saw absolutely no form of life anywhere. It was considerably different from what Alice remembered from an old nursery book her father read to her when she was little. In the book, Perion was described as the home of the brave tribal warriors. The book also described the town to be rich with culture and different people as many tribes came together to create Perion.

However, the scene all around her, begged to differ.

"Stay close," Dante whispered.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked, staying closely behind him.

"We need to get out of this valley quick. We're in the best position to be ambushed right now. The cell should be around in this area..." Just as those words left Dante's lips, Alice heard a high pitched whistle.

It all happened much too fast as she suddenly saw an arrow embed itself deeply into Dante's arm. He immediately fell to his knees in pain.

"Dante!" Alice exclaimed, kneeling down beside him. She grew panicked as he held his injured arm.

"Alice, run," he breathed out, ripping the arrow out roughly. He grunted at the pain and held his hand over the injury.

The warrior heard the sound of various men surrounding them. "I'm not going to leave you here!" she shouted. Alice heard the heavy footsteps approach closer to them. In response, she quickly released her polearm from its hold and stood up. She subconsciously took a step back when she saw just how many men were surrounding them.

"Alice..." Dante whispered lowly in a warning tone.

When one of the soldiers came rushing out after Alice, the blue haired girl gave her heavy weapon a spin and hit the soldier directly in the stomach. When another one came at her, she blocked the swing of his sword and kicked him away. It wasn't until she got through the fourth soldier that they were starting to come at her more quickly. When one of them managed to wrap their arm around her neck and hold her tightly, Alice let out a surprised cry and fought to get free.

"Alice!" the archer yelled. Just as he attempted to get up on his feet, a soldier came up behind him and hit him hard at the base of his skull.

Alice watched as Dante fell to the ground again, completely knocked unconscious. "Dante!" she cried out as she fought harder against the man that held her. It wasn't long until she too was knocked unconscious with a heavy blow to her head. When she fell to the ground, she vaguely saw the soldiers grab both of Dante's arms and haul him up. "Dan...te..." she muttered as her eyelids slowly began to close. She completely lost consciousness when she felt two hands grab her by the arms as well and carry her away.

* * *

**A/N **_Time to respond to some of the reviews! _

_Blinded by the Moonlight - Haha, to be honest, I wasn't aware that I was making nearly all the antagonists female. Of course, I'm not trying to hint at anything. However, I will say that Alice's mom is not "evil." Or at least, I'll try to make her seem "more good" in the future chapters. _

_Anonymous - Sequel? I'm going to be vague as possible when I say this, but yes, I've already planned out for a sequel and the sequel will feature a time skip. _

_CrazyKidd101 - Don't worry! Ada and Cedric will be appearing a lot more in the next few chapters! _

_snowpaum - Yes, Ivan does age like regular humans. However, when he was "created" he was "born" as the current age he is right now. The only reason why he keeps thinking that he's not human is because Alice's mother kept telling him that he wasn't a human. It just sort of got "conditioned" into him. Not the best choice of words, but I'd say it's kind of like "brain washed" to think that way. _

_ThanhnuFia_ - _There will be no Cygnus Knights, Resistance classes, Dual Bladers, or anything like that for now. I do, however, definitely plan for Cygnus Knights and Resistance Classes to be introduced in the sequel. At the point, I'm not sure if I'll include Arans or Evans or anything else of that nature._

(I only responded to those that asked a specific question. If I didn't respond to your review, it doesn't mean I didn't read it. I DO read all of my reviews and I really appreciate the ones that were left recently. They really made me more inspired than ever to finish this story.)

* * *

**Si Hua:**

(Her name in Chinese can either mean, "Death Flower" or "Four Flowers" because she wears four pink flowers on her head, two flowers on either side.)  
(Additional note: Si Hua wears the full, in-game cash shop item, _Diao Chan_ set. (Excluding the sword))

_Age: 17 years old  
Gender: Female  
Height: 5 feet 5 inches (165 centimeters)  
Weight: 105 pounds (48 kilograms)  
__Eye color: Hazel  
Hair color: Light brown  
Class: Assassin  
__MapleStory in-game level (roughly): Level 70-80  
_

_Background:_ Si Hua was brought up in a poverty stricken, unnamed town that was on the outskirts of Kerning City. When Krylin began her invasion of Kerning and Perion, Si Hua willingly joined her, seeing as how she could have a much better life with Krylin. Her personality is very bubbly and upbeat, although she can be rather sinister and cunning when she wants to be. She has a deep respect for Krylin and feels obligated to her because she saved her from the miserable life of poverty. Si Hua had some feelings for Ivan, but she couldn't bring herself to say it. Instead, she would defend herself by saying that he was nothing more than a monster.


	24. Interrogation

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths_ - _**_17 years old - Hermit  
_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

**Julia Everard - **_35 years old_

**Krylin - **_24 years old__ - Necromancer (Dark Cleric)_

_

* * *

_

**Aegis**

**Chapter 24: Interrogation  
**

_"It's cold..." _

Alice slowly opened up her eyes and still felt a bit disoriented. The air smelled rotten and the ground felt damp as she attempted to get up. However, in doing so, she found out that her arms were completely restrained by tight ropes binding her wrists together, as well as her ankles. As she wiggled around, trying to free herself or at least sit up, she heard a soft groan from behind her.

"Dante?" she asked, trying to flip herself over to face him.

"What the hell happened...?" he muttered, slurring his words slightly. Dante blinked a few more times to clear up his vision. "Did we get captured?" He let out a sharp sigh and closed his eyes. "Damn it, my head hurts so much."

"What do we do?" Alice asked him. "I can't...free myself." She grunted as she tried to pull at the ropes. From behind her, she heard Dante struggle against his binds as well.

"I can't believe this," he mumbled. "What ever it is that they're doing here, they obviously want to guard it closely."

"But...why didn't they just kill us? They could have if they really wanted t-" Alice stopped talking when she saw the cell door opening up. Fear gripped around her neck tightly when she saw four soldiers rush into the cell. From behind them, she saw a rather burly, heavy-set man walk into the cell. He was slightly tanned and wore a bandanna over his head. A large scar cut across his closed right eye and down his cheek. When he saw both Alice and Dante, he grinned and Alice saw one of his teeth was solid gold.

"About time you two woke up. I was starting to think that we killed you because you were hit too hard," he laughed loudly when the soldiers pulled them up. "Follow me," he ordered the soldiers.

* * *

Alice felt her heart thump wildly in her chest as she and Dante were led away through the large, dark caverns. She grew fearful what might actually happen to them. Dante walked beside her. Inside, she really wanted to look up at him and perhaps find some means of comfort from her fears, but she kept her head down. There was no telling what the soldiers might do to her if she were to do anything else other than walking.

They were eventually led to a wide open room, presumably for storage as there were many crates and boxes surrounding the perimeter of the room.

"Bring both of them here," the burly man said, motioning over to the soldiers.

When both Alice and Dante stood before the huge man, Alice couldn't help but tremble. She gasped when he cupped her chin and brought her head up.

"Are you scared, Miss?"

Alice was forced to look straight into his gold colored eyes. She found them flashing almost menacingly and so she struggled to look away.

"I was surprised that such a cute little girl like you was a warrior," he chuckled lowly.

Alice winced when he talked. His breath smelled stale and unpleasant as he spoke directly in front of her. She closed her eyes tightly and silently told herself to stop shaking. Alice began to whimper when she felt his hand trail down her shoulders and her arm.

"With such thin arms like these...it's really amazing that you can wield such heavy weapons. I wonder just how easy it is to break one of them," he said with a crazed grin, tightly gripping Alice's arm. She cried out and turned away, bracing for the pain.

"I wonder just how cowardly you are for trying to instill fear into her," Dante intervened.

The scarred man turned to the archer and let go of Alice. He walked over to Dante and asked, "well, aren't you the little gentleman?"

"I just find it pointless how you're only here to waste our time." Dante kept his composure as he looked directly into the man's eyes.

"Pointless, huh?" the man chuckled. He suddenly wrapped his hand around the male archer's neck tightly. "Don't talk as if you're in control here. I don't think you quite understand the position you're currently in."

"You're right, I don't." Dante seemed unfazed by the fact that the man was tightening his hold on his neck. "Why did you bring us here?" he asked.

"Heh, I report directly back to Krylin and I need information from the two of you." He released his hold on Dante's neck and roughly pulled down on the collar of the archer's white shirt, revealing the black Aegis flame tattoo on his collarbone. "It seems that I got lucky today for capturing an Aegis platoon leader. You're quite young compared to all the other leaders, aren't you?" Without waiting for an answer, the heavyset man grinned and said, "I'm sure you'll both provide the right information that I need."

Dante glanced over at Alice, who was completely petrified with fear. He turned his attention back to the man and stated, "what makes you think we'll tell you anything?"

The burly man laughed. "You really don't understand the situation you're in." Without warning, he pulled back his fist and hit Dante squarely in the jaw.

"Dante!" Alice cried out as the archer fell to the ground. She struggled against the soldiers that held her. "Don't hurt him!" she yelled at them. "Dante! Dante! Get up!" The warrior watched helplessly as the man stood over Dante.

"Do you understand now?" the man asked him with a malicious grin.

Dante clenched his teeth and glared up at the man from the corner of his eye. His cheek began to throb as he was roughly pulled back up to his feet by the soldiers behind him. "We don't have any information. At least...information that you would be interested in," Dante stated.

"I see..."

Alice flinched when she saw the man's gold eyes flicker over to her. She looked away and kept her head down, silently wishing that they weren't stuck in this mess.

"I wonder if she'll know any information regarding the Aegis. She's your martyr, yes?" the man asked, grinning. He walked over to her and Alice refused to make eye contact with him. She could just imagine his crazed grin plastered across his tanned face. When she saw his heavy black boots before her, Alice immediately felt him grab a fistful of her hair and pull her head up. She yelped at the sudden pain and in response, the burly man chuckled. "She's quite vocal, isn't she? I like that. I think I'll have a lot of fun interrogating her."

"You won't get any information from her no matter how hard you try. I told you she's only a martyr. She doesn't have access to any sort of Aegis related information," Dante said, warily watching the man. "If you want someone to interrogate, it's me."

"Giving yourself up in order to protect her, is it?" He let out a hearty laugh as he let go of Alice. "You two!" he shouted at the soldiers holding Alice. "Take her out of the room. Go have your fun with her. She'll be quite the treat for the other soldiers as well."

Alice froze when she heard him. She struggled against the rope holding her wrists tied together and screamed, "no! Let me go!" Alice was fully aware of what the burly man meant by what he said.

"Alice!" Dante tried to go after her, but the soldiers behind him held on tightly to his shoulders. He watched helplessly as she was being taken away. "I told you she doesn't know anything!" he yelled at the man. Dante heard the door to the room slam shut and he could no longer hear Alice's cries.

"My, you're quite protective of your martyr, aren't you? From my knowledge, most of the other platoon leaders go through martyrs like lantern oil."

The black haired archer looked away, mentally cursing at himself for showing a potential weakness. "If they kill her...I'll never tell you anything," he whispered lowly under his breath.

"Kill?" The man threw his head back and laughed loudly. "Do you think I'm some sort of brute? My men will have their way with her, but I've ordered them earlier to not kill either of you."

Dante clenched his fists and resisted the urge to lunge at him. He had hoped his anger wouldn't be noticeable, but unfortunately, the heavy-set man took note of it immediately.

"What's this? Does it really bother you that much knowing what will happen to her? I supposed she's someone special to you? There's no other explanation. Now then..." From his belt, the man pulled out a sharp, glistening dagger. He held it against Dante's neck and said coolly, "I'm rather good at interrogations and getting the information that I need. I'm sure you'll know what will happen to you if you decide to be defiant and not answer my questions." He placed a bit of pressure on the dagger and the sharp edge of the dagger began to gather tiny beads of ruby red blood.

"Even when I don't have any useful information?" Dante asked, looking straight into the man's eyes, refusing to show any sort of fear.

The man chuckled as he dragged the dagger across the archer's skin, producing a sharp cut. "We'll see whether or not you have useful information or not."

Dante felt blood trickling out of the small cut on his neck and down to his chest. He didn't flinch when the man created a similar cut on his cheek. "If this is all you're going to do, I'm not going to tell you anything, whether or not it's bad information."

"Interesting," the man said, laughing a bit. He took the dagger away and said, "even when I was the interrogator for the Aegis, I never quite had such a fearless little brat like you. It must be your eyes. Your eyes have strength in them."

"You were in the Aegis?" Dante asked, trying not to sound too surprised.

Grinning, the man stood up straight and Dante noticed how he towered over him by a couple of inches. Cracking his huge knuckles, he said, "I was an interrogator for the Aegis long before you were born, kid. Captain Timm Fleischer...my name could have gone down in the records because of the amount of useful information I got the Aegis. Unfortunately, that damn bitch Athena didn't approve of how violently I got my information from the prisoners. She thought it was pure torture. I was banished from the Aegis, but luckily, I found someone that appreciates my way of interrogation." The captain chuckled and played with the dagger in his hands.

"So are you out for revenge against the Aegis?"

"Revenge? No, I just want vengeance," Timm grinned rather crazily again. "After what Athena dared to do to me, I want her to suffer and I want to be there when I see her precious little Aegis empire collapse before her. I'm sure she'll show me a pretty little frightened expression before I kill her with my bare hands."

"You'll never get that chance," Dante said. "If you actually think you're stronger than Athena-" He stopped talking when he felt a a sharp pain in his shoulder. Dante saw the captain's dagger embedded in his flesh. He felt the warmth of his blood rushing out to the surrounding areas, dampening his clothes.

"You're rather irritating with that arrogant attitude of yours, kid."

_"When did he throw his dagger at me? I didn't even see his arm move."_

Dante resisted at making any sort of noise when Timm grabbed the hilt of the dagger and pulled, creating a deep wound in the archer's shoulder. Fighting the pain, Dante clenched his teeth and felt sweat form on his brow.

Timm laughed at what he saw and finally pulled the dagger out from Dante's flesh. "Did that hurt, kid?"

Panting, Dante felt as if his whole right arm had gone numb from the wound. He regained his breath and looked up at the captain. Finally he let out a soft chuckle and asked, "was that it? You won't be getting much information out of me if that's all you're going to do."

* * *

"Let me go!" Alice screamed, trying to struggle and kick them with her legs. The soldier held onto her tightly and all the while, she felt their lecherous gazes rake all over her body as they led her to a room. When they finally arrived at one, Alice struggled even more. "Stop! I..." She fought back tears. "I...don't want this..."

"Is she cryin'?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Eh, who cares. The more noise they make...the better," another soldier replied, laughing. "Get in there," he said, roughly shoving the warrior into the room.

Alice stumbled and felt her insides churning as the men surrounded her in the rather small room. She felt her tears leak out of her eyes faster as she was finally met with the full severity of the dire situation. "Please...stop," she whispered, sinking to the ground. "Please..." The warrior clenched her fists, wishing that she wasn't here. She closed her eyes and wished that she was back in Henesys, comfortably in her room sleeping the day away. Alice was abruptly snapped out of her dream when she felt a hand roughly yank hair pin, letting loose her long blue hair. She cried out and felt two of the men grab either one of her arms.

"No!" Alice screamed, feeling her tears rolling freely down her cheeks. She tried to fight against them, but she felt helpless as there were more of them and they were all much stronger than her. Trembling, Alice closed her eyes and cried. "Dante," she whispered out, finding that his name was the first thing that came to mind. "Dante...please...help me."

"Your little platoon leader can't come and help you. He's probably half-dead by now considering it's our captain that's interrogating him." All the soldiers laughed.

Alice widened her tearful eyes and trembled. "N-No...he isn't..."

One of them knelt down in front of Alice and told the two soldiers restraining her, "hold her down tightly. I don't want her hitting me while I-" He was interrupted when the metal door in the room came swinging open. From the doorway, Alice only saw the dim figure of a woman.

"You dirty ass weasels," she growled out. The woman made her way to Alice and held out her hand towards her. "I'll take you back to your cell."

"E-Eh?" Alice, still in shock with what just happened, hesitantly took the woman's soft hand. She saw the red haired woman flash her a gentle smile and Alice blinked several times, trying to clear the tears from her eyes so that she could get a better look at her. Her blue eyes widened when she could see the woman's face just a bit in the dimly lit room. "You were..."

"H-Hey! Rose, what the hell are you doing?" one of the soldier shouted, trying to intervene. "The captain said-"

"To hell with what the captain told you, rats! Come on, let's go Alice."

The warrior looked a bit surprised as she was pulled up to her feet. "H-How do you know my name...?"

Rose simply smiled at her gently and then turned her attention back towards the soldiers. "If any of you decide to bother her again, I'll personally see to it that you have your throats slit right down to the bone." She guided Alice out of the dark room and back out into the somewhat, well-lit corridors.

"U-Uhm...thank you," Alice said, looking up at Rose.

"Women need to look out for each other, don't we?" Rose asked, chuckling softly at the end. "I did get your name right earlier?"

"Eh?...O-Oh! Yes," the blue haired girl nodded. "How do...?"

"Know your name?" Rose asked, finishing up Alice's sentence. "Dante tells me a lot about you. Although...you're much prettier than from what he's told me."

"Ah...is that so?" Alice clenched her fist and tried not to show her annoyance. She made a mental note to get back at Dante once they were back home. Trying move past the subject, Alice asked the red head, "why are you here, Rose?"

"I'm afraid it's a bit complicated."

"Is it for the reconnaissance? Are you a part of that?"

"I am...but, I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated." Rose lowered her gaze as they arrived in front of the holding cell. "I'm sorry, I can't tell you Alice."

"Ah, n-no! It's fine!" Alice exclaimed. "I know someone that's in the reconnaissance and he told me you're supposed to be very secretive." She stared back in curiosity when Rose turned away slightly.

"I-I suppose that's it then," Rose whispered, tucking a lock of bright red hair behind her ear. She mustered up a smile and looked back at Alice. "Please stay in your cell for the time being. I promise that those soldiers won't bother you again." As the sniper went towards the cell door to unlock it, Alice suddenly grabbed her arm rather urgently. "Alice...? What's wro-?"

"Please, can you go save Dante?"

Rose widened her dark red eyes slightly. She finally turned her attention back to the cell door and muttered, "I can't do that, Alice." Once she unlocked the door, Alice stopped her again.

"Please! He'll die!"

"I'm sorry Alice. I can't do that. The captain will only be interrogating him, but he won't kill him." Rose gently guided Alice into the cell. "Now...please stay inside."

Unable to argue with the red head anymore, Alice unwillingly went into the cell. She turned around to try and convince Rose again, but the door was closed before she could get another word in. Alice went to the door and placed her hand on it. Silently, she rested her head against the cold iron and whispered, "please be okay, Dante..."

* * *

Alice didn't know how many hours had gone by since Rose had placed her back inside the cell. However, it seemed as though a few days had gone by.

The warrior pulled her legs up and hugged her knees to her chest. "Why aren't you coming back, Dante?" she whispered, Alice trembled from the cold, damp air surrounding her. She wished that there would be at least a small opening so that she could get a look outside, however, the cell was completely blocked off and devoid of any sort of life other than herself.

Suddenly, the cell door swung open. Alice quickly stood up and before she could take a step towards the door, she saw Dante roughly thrown into the cell. He let out a weak grunt as he hit the damp ground.

"Dante!" Alice rushed to his side as the cell door closed up again. She heard nothing from him as she tried to sit him up against the walls. Alice grew panicked when she saw just how many cuts and bruises Dante had all over his body. It was dark, but she could still make out that his upper lip was cut and that there was a deep wound on his right cheek. "Dante! Wake up!" She touched his shoulder and quickly pulled her hand back when she found out that his coat was drenched in icy cold water.

"Are you...okay?" Dante finally asked softly. His voice sounded weak and wispy.

The blue haired girl nodded when she saw his red eyes. "You should worry more about your self!" she said, finding it painful to see him like this. Alice sniffed and felt herself tearing up again.

"Idiot," Dante chuckled, mustering up a weak smile. He reached out to her with his arm that still moved and gently wiped away her tears. "I'll be fine. Don't start crying over me."

Alice gently took his hand and found it to be extremely cold. "Why are you this cold?"

"One of the times...I guess," the archer coughed. "I guess they got tired of cutting me up so they decided to dump ice water on me." Dante let out a wry laugh and leaned his head back against the wall. "I frankly would have liked it better if they used boiling water instead."

"Don't joke," Alice said, wiping away some loose tears. She felt partial relief that he was still alive, but she knew that he was going to be in a critical condition if something wasn't going to be done about his wounds. "I had brought some extra health potions...but they took my bag when they captured us."

"Are you...still worried about me? I told you that I'll be fine," Dante reiterated. He continued to cough and pretty soon, he started shivering.

"You won't be fine!" Alice retorted, holding onto his hand tighter, hoping that it would warm him up a bit. However, in spite of that, he continued to shiver and let out short, quick breaths. Alice knew that she left him as he was, he would eventually die from the cold. Knowing this, she took a course of action and took Dante's coat in her hands.

"What are you d-doing?" he stuttered from the cold as she began to pull off his coat.

"You need to get warmer. Having your wet clothes on will only make you colder," Alice mumbled, trying not to be embarrassed with what she was doing.

Dante let out a pained grunt when she tried to take his right arm out of the coat.

Alice couldn't help, but cringe when she saw the huge gash that cut from the base of his neck, down to his shoulder. "S-Sorry," she apologized quickly as she managed to take the coat off completely. Much to her fear, she saw that Dante's white shirt was completely torn up and bloody. Underneath, she saw more deep cuts and bruises dotting his chest and stomach. "Did they do this to you because you didn't tell them anything?"

The archer let out a dry laugh and whispered, "also because...I don't think he really liked me." Dante began to shiver again from the cold air inside the cell. There was still water dripping from his wet hair. He let out a shivering sigh and mumbled, "I think I was warmer with the coat on-" He stopped talking abruptly when he felt Alice wrap her arms around him. Surprised, he looked down at her and saw her head was rested on his chest. "Idiot...what are you doing...?"

"Th-This is how you're going to get warmer," Alice mumbled, blushing slightly. "We don't have anything else that can keep you warm..."

Dante turned away, embarrassed, when he felt her press up against him fully. "I'm still bleeding you know. You'll get yourself dirty."

"It's only a little bit." Alice gently held him tighter. "Does it feel a little bit warmer?"

"I...guess," he mumbled out, feeling his heartbeat speed up just a little. Dante hoped that she wouldn't look up at his face and notice his light blush. He looked down and only saw the top of her head. Carefully, he raised his hand and placed it on the side of her head, keeping her head pressed up against his chest.

"D-Dante...?" she asked him, a bit surprised by his affectionate action. Alice tried to look up, but she didn't want to move her head so much so that he would pull back his hand.

"I'm glad you're okay," Dante finally muttered after a long period of silence. "I thought...they...did things to you."

"Th-They didn't," Alice stuttered out. She let out an involuntary shiver when she felt his hand gently brush through her blue hair. His chest rose slightly and she heard him let out a soft exhale.

"Good," he whispered softly. "I didn't...want to break my promise...so ear...ly..." His voice trailed off in the end. Alice peered up at him and saw that he was fast asleep, probably from exhaustion. She smiled gently and placed her head back against his chest. She closed her eyes and listened silently to his heartbeat.

"You're still so arrogant...stupid Dante..."

* * *

**A/N **_Short chapter, sorry! I didn't want to clump in the next set of events in the same chapter. Also, sorry if some of the events in this chapter "disturbed" some of you. I know some people don't like reading about torture or reading about *OMG rape*.  
_

_The thing with Rose will be explained as well as her relationship with Dante. Also, -gasp- new character! Yes, Timm will be added to the character list in the next chapter. He'll be one of the antagonists of course.  
_

_Reviews are always appreciated!_


	25. Betrayal is Her Name

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths**_ - 17 years old - Hermit_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

**Julia Everard - **_35 years old_

**Krylin - **_24 years old - Necromancer (Dark Cleric)_

**Timm Fleischer - **_42 years old - Marauder_

* * *

**Aegis **

**Chapter 25: Betrayal is Her Name**

_"His name is Dante. Both of his parents were...killed a few years ago, if you can remember." _

_"I do." Rose responded to Athena. She looked down from Athena's face and focused her attention on the little boy that was by the elf's side. He seemed shy as he kept avoiding direct eye contact with Rose. _

_"Even though you plan on becoming a sniper, Rose, I think it would be nice for Dante to learn some archery from you." _

_"Y-Yes, of course Miss Athena." The red head walked over to the small, black haired boy and knelt down in front of him. "What's your name?" she asked him gently with a warm smile. _

_He seemed a bit hesitant, but finally he said, "D-Dante..." _

_"That's a nice name," Rose replied, smiling still. She took his small hand and said, "my name is Rose, so call me by that okay? I won't respond to anything else." _

_Dante nodded, still avoiding direct eye contact with her. _

_"How old are you, Dante?" _

_"I'm...five..." _

* * *

_"Wow! I did it! I did it! I really hit the target! Look, look Rose!" _

_The young red head looked at the crude target board that was nailed to a tree. She indeed, saw a lone arrow sticking out from the target board. The tip of the arrow was barely embedded in the wooden target, but nevertheless, Rose smiled and applauded softly. "You're getting better and better every day, Dante!" _

_"Really?" The little black haired boy smiled happily as he ran up to Rose. He looked up at her and let out a childish giggle. "I'm going to try and become better than you someday!" _

_Rose laughed lightly and patted the top of his head. "I'm sure you will. You'll become a lot better than me someday." She liked how he had quickly warmed up to her. "It's getting a bit late, isn't it? You should head home soon." _

_Dante immediately shook his head in response. "I don't want to! I want to stay here with you! I haven't seen you in a week!" _

_"But your friend Cedric and his parents will be worried of you if you come in late." Rose saw him shake his head again. "You don't care about them?" _

_He widened his red eyes and shook his head again. "It's not that! It's just that..." He trailed off to a soft mumble, unable to fully express why he was so opposed to going back home. Fortunately for him, Rose didn't ask any more questions and understood the situation to some degree. _

_"Then...how about I get you something to eat?" she asked with a soft smile. Rose giggled when she saw the young boy nod slightly in response with a beaming smile on his face. _

* * *

Warm water ran down her forearm and dripped off of her elbow as she silently dabbed a wet cloth against Dante's bloody wounds. Rose gently brushed aside his bangs from his closed eyes and cleaned up the caked blood on his forehead. She ignored the numb pain in her knees as she dipped the cloth in the bucket of warm water and wrung it out. When she touched the cloth to Dante's cheek, he flinched slightly and slowly began to open his eyes.

"Are you finally awake?" she asked him.

Dante seemed to still be in a sleep induced daze as he took some time before he responded. He blinked a few times and finally narrowed his eyes in order to focus his vision more. "Rose...? What are you doing here?"

The red head didn't answer him and simply continued to clean up his wounds. She eventually lowered her gaze and muttered, "I can't tell you that, Dante."

"What ever happened to keeping secrets between us?"

"I never said that."

"You implied it," Dante pressed on. He flinched when she cleaned up the cut on his neck.

"Sorry." Rose pulled the cloth away and dipped it back into the bucket. "Don't talk so loudly. Your martyr is still asleep."

The archer looked down and saw that Alice was indeed, still fast asleep with her head rested on his lap. Dante turned his attention back towards Rose and asked, "did you save her earlier?"

"Even though you don't express it Dante...I know how important she is to you." Rose smiled as she worked her way down to his chest. "You seem to be smiling more often like you had when we were younger." Before she could dab at another wound, Dante grabbed her wrist.

"I still want an answer," he stated. 'What are you doing here?"

"I already told you."

"No you haven't...not the answer that I want."

Rose clenched her fists slightly. "If I told you, you would never believe me." She stared into his eyes and finally, Dante was the one that looked away. He scoffed and let go of her wrist. "Don't you want to know?" Rose asked.

"Whatever."

"Are you afraid the answer might be something you won't like?"

Dante kept his head turned away as he narrowed his red eyes. "It's not that," he mumbled.

"I told you that you are a horrible liar, didn't I Dante?"

The male archer kept silent, unable to come up with a reasonable answer. He heard her sigh after a long period of silence and felt her press the warm wet cloth against his skin once more.

"Athena believes that I'm here for the Aegis," Rose started to say. She paused to look at Dante's face for a reaction, but when she didn't see one, she simply went back to talking. "So...you were already suspicious about me, weren't you?" she asked him softly. Rose gently dropped the cloth into the bucket of water and tightly held her damp hands together. "Even though you can't lie very well, you were always quick to catch on to things," Rose said with a soft chuckle.

"When...? When did you decide to side with Krylin?" Dante turned his head to look at her. He narrowed his eyes when she bowed her head down.

"It's not like I was intending to betray the Aegis in the first place, Dante. As a member of the reconnaissance I had no choice, but to be exposed to Krylin's ideals." Rose looked at Dante and carefully placed her hands over his. "Are you okay with this truth?"

Dante didn't say a word to her. Instead, he gently slid his hands out from underneath Rose's hands. He didn't look her in the eyes as well. Rose sighed at this and brought her hands to her lap.

"So you do believe me."

"You never lied to me before, Rose. I don't see why you would start now," Dante muttered.

"I suppose...you're right." Rose clenched her fists tightly and slowly stood up onto her feet. She bent down to grab the bucket from the ground. As she did so, she glanced at Dante again and saw the slightest hint of hurt in his eyes. Rose looked away and stood up straight. "This wasn't a sudden decision you know. Even though I've been a "loyal" Aegis member for all this time, I was the one that was feeding Krylin sensitive information about the Aegis. I have been doing that for some time now."

"You're saying those things as if you're proud of your betrayal."

"Maybe I am, Dante," the red haired woman whispered out rather harshly. She looked down at him and saw that he still didn't look at her. "We aren't blood related siblings, you know," she suddenly brought up.

Dante scoffed. "Why are you bringing that up now? I already knew that a long time ago."

"I only thought of you as "my little brother" because I...I felt sorry for you," Rose heard her own voice tremble.

"I see."

"If Athena hadn't told me to look after you, my life would have probably been...a whole lot better." The sniper tried to stop her voice from shaking, but she couldn't. "All because of you...I never had time to make any friends...find a boyfriend...find out who my family was..." Rose clenched her teeth as she continued to see no reaction from him. She felt the sting of tears in her eyes, but she held back the urge to cry. "I was worked like a dog in the Aegis while you...you were praised by Athena and everyone else even when you weren't in the Aegis." Rose let out an unsteady sigh when she again, saw no reaction from him. "This is the last time Dante...the last time we'll ever talk like this. After I leave, you'll just be an enemy to me." The sniper turned towards the door and started to walk out.

When she was just about to let herself out of the cell, Dante turned his head to look at her. "I'm sorry," he whispered, almost inaudibly. "You didn't ask for it...but I was left in your care and I took your for granted."

Rose widened her red eyes and clenched her fists. She closed her eyes and felt the first tear roll down the smooth plain of her cheek. "You don't need to lie to make me feel better, Dante."

"I meant it. I thought you said I was a horrible liar."

"Y...You are," Rose whispered, feeling another tear roll down her cheek. "Goodbye, Dante," she said, pausing for a little while. She couldn't bring herself to stop her tears. For fear of him finding out that she was crying, Rose quickly let herself out of the cell. Once she closed the heavy iron door behind her, she let out a soft, annoyed click of her tongue and wiped away the last of her remaining tears.

* * *

"A reserve army?" Dark Lord looked at Athena in an almost incredulous manner. "What exactly-?"

"I know...the plan was to make sure everyone boards the ships so that they'll be safe on Ossyria. The reserve is only to hold off Krylin's troops until the ships are safely prepared to take off."

"So then...that means those in the reserve are basically on a suicide mission?"

Athena let out a soft sigh and laced her fingers together. "Since they are to stay back and hold off Krylin's army as long as possible, they won't be boarding the ships. It's for the best. Krylin's army is enormous. It's much bigger than what we have imagined it to be. We may have skilled fighters on our side, but we'll be ridiculously outnumbered."

"Who will be the ones that stay behind?"

"Most of them will be volunteers. We'll ask the platoons if anyone wants to join the reserve."

Dark leaned back in his chair. "Is this really the best plan?" he muttered, asking no one in particular.

"There's no other option. All the doors have closed before us and this is the only chance we have on making sure Krylin doesn't gain complete control over us. The least we can do now is to make sure that all the remaining civilians on Victoria Island board the completed ships as soon as possible."

The thief closed his eyes and exhaled softly. "I guess." He opened up his eyes again and looked up at the intricately embellished ceiling of the council hall. "Everyone will need to make new homes in Ossyria all because of this mess."

Athena remained silent as she stood up from her seat and walked over to one of the huge arched windows. "You seem bothered by it," she commented.

"I just...don't want to run anymore. It's tiring to see the citizens everyday...looking terrified and paranoid all the time. Even myself..." Dark kept his head leaned back against the chair's backboard. "It was a mistake for me to abandon Kerning. I practically gave it up to Krylin on a silver platter."

"Don't beat yourself up for it, Dark. It's in the past, you can't do anything to change it now."

"Maybe...if I didn't abandon it...the people would have more trust in us. In the Aegis..."

The silvery haired elf gently placed her hand on the warm glass of the window. She looked outside and saw people outside living their daily lives. They seemed rather carefree and worry-free. Athena knew that the expression on all of their faces would soon change once they knew of the coming invasion. "That's why," Athena started, leaning her forehead against the glass. "That's why we need to protect them the best way we could. We can't control their fears or paranoia, but we can help ease it. That's what we're here for, Dark."

* * *

_"Is it good?" Rose giggled when Dante nodded happily, his cheeks bulging with sweet dumplings. She rubbed the top of his head, messing up his short black hair. "Do you want mine?" _

_"You're not hungry, Rose?" he asked. _

_"Not that much," she said, smiling. Rose carefully handed him the skewered dumplings and watched him pull them off the skewer with his teeth. "Dante." _

_"Mm?" _

_"Are you planning to join the Aegis when you get older?" _

_Dante looked up at her with his round, red eyes. He swallowed the dumplings in his mouth and nodded. "I want to be just like you, Rose!" _

_"Are you sure? It's a lot of work...you'll need to start attending the Academy like I am soon." _

_"That's fine!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "I want to be able to protect you too!" _

_"Protect?" _

_"That's what the Aegis, does right? They protect people!" _

_Rose nodded her head a little stiffly. "I-I suppose they do." _

_"My parents died because...they protected someone, didn't they Rose?" Dante suddenly asked, his voice getting a bit quieter. _

_"I don't know about that Dante," the red head said softly. She placed her hand on the wooden bench that they were sitting on. "I'm sure they did." _

_The little boy looked at her and smiled. "Even though I don't really remember them...I kinda wish they were here." He lowered his head and mumbled, "Cedric's parents are nice to me...but they're still not my real parents. I know I shouldn't say those sorts of things, but...I really, really wish that my parents were here." _

_Rose saw his tears dropping onto his lap, leaving dark stains on his blue shorts. She gently reached out and touched his small shoulder. "Your parents loved you a lot. I'm sure that they wouldn't want to see you crying and putting on such a sad face." _

_"Eh?" Dante raised his face and looked at her with his big, teary eyes. _

_The red head smiled and wiped away his tears. "I still care about you. If you want...I can be your older sister." _

_"Sister...?" he asked. _

_Rose laughed softly and patted the top of his head. "Is that okay with you?" _

_Dante wiped away his remaining tears with the back of his hand. He smiled and nodded. _

_Immediately, Rose brought him into a tight embrace and whispered, "just know that I'll always take care of you, Dante. Even if I say otherwise..." _

* * *

"Otherwise...huh?" Dante muttered as he pulled his dried coat up to Alice's neck. He brushed away some stray strands of blue hair away from the warrior's face. This caused Alice to stir slightly and slowly open up her eyes, waking up from her deep sleep. "Are you finally awake?"

The warrior rubbed her eyes free of sleep and looked up at him. "I want to go back to sleep," she grumbled, closing her eyes again.

"Idiot, get up. How can you even sleep that much when we're in this situation?" He lifted her head up off his lap, but she protested in her sleepy daze.

"Stop it!" she whined, trying to push away his hands. "I'm tired!"

"Were you always this stubborn when you wake up?" Dante asked, trying to get her to sit up. "I think my leg's gone numb because your huge head cut off my circulation!"

"Shut up! I don't have a huge head!" Alice shouted. Now that she was fully awake, she blinked and noticed how Dante's wounds were cleaned up for the most part. "Eh? How did you clean them?" she asked, gently touching the surrounding skin around a cut on his chest.

Dante gently swatted her hand away. "Don't touch it. It still hurts, idiot." He ignored her as she shot him an irritated look. Remaining silent for a bit, Dante turned his head and stared at the cell door. In a soft voice, he started to tell her, "Rose came in earlier. She told me how she saved you earlier."

Alice nodded. "Sh-She did," she stuttered out. The warrior looked at Dante and found herself staring at his eyes. Their deep red color seemed vaguely familiar and it took Alice a little while before she remembered how Rose's eyes looked. The sudden realization made Alice ask the platoon leader, "are you and her...related?"

"What?"

"You and Rose."

The black haired male lowered his eyes. "No...we're not. We're not related by blood at least. We're just...close," he stated curtly.

"Oh...close...?" Alice muttered softly. She began to wonder if Rose was the one that Dante had told her about as the one he liked. Alice found it strange when she felt a slightly sinking feeling deep inside of her when she got to this realization. _'What was I expecting? Of course Dante likes her. Why did I ever think that he would ever like me?' _

Suddenly, the door to the cell flew open, startling both Dante and Alice. Much to their displeasure, they saw Captain Fleischer standing in the doorway. The heavy, burly man grinned and asked them, "how are my two little Aegis brats doing today?" When Alice and Dante remained silent, simply glaring at him, the captain laughed and stepped aside so that a few soldiers could come in. "I think I'll have a little bit of fun with the two of you."

The soldiers rushed in and quickly pulled both of them to their feet. Once they had the two of them restrained, Captain Fleischer walked up to Dante and chuckled. "I see you're not half unconscious after what I did to you. Good I like that."

Dante glared at him. "If you think that I'll tell you anything this time around-"

"Ha! I won't be interrogating you today." Fleischer turned his head towards Alice.

When Dante saw this, he widened his eyes and shouted, "she doesn't have any information!"

"We'll see about that." The bald man gently pulled on the bandanna on his head and grinned. "Bring them both over to the storage room! I believe another interrogation is needed."

* * *

"Hm...it looks like it's going to rain soon," Minna commented, looking up at the sky. She held the little golden tiara on top of her head to keep it from falling when she tilted her head back. "I liked it better when it was sunny," she sighed sadly.

Ivan nodded in agreement, walking beside her silently. His blonde bangs gently tickled his face as a slight wind began to pick up.

"I wonder what Athena's calling us for?" The bubbly cleric gasped suddenly as she clapped her hands together. "Maybe she'll assign us to a quest! If she does, then that means she completely trusts you, Ivan!" Minna said rather excitedly. She gestured with her arms as she spoke. Ivan let his eyes fixate upon the orange jewel at the end of her Thorns staff, which seemed to be swinging around everywhere as Minna let her excitement get the best of her. "Wouldn't that be great Ivan?"

The gunslinger seemed indifferent as he responded. "It doesn't really matter," he mumbled.

"Eh? Why not? If this means that Athena trusts you, then you won't have to worry about anything like being sent back to Omega Sector!"

"I don't care if Athena chooses to trust me or not." Ivan lowered his gaze to the ground. "I only need your trust."

Minna blushed at his sentence. She widened her eyes and stuttered, "wh-what are you saying, Ivan?"

Ivan looked at her and blinked. "Did I say something bad?" He seemed genuinely confused.

"No, it's not that! It's just that...I'm happy you think that way of me." Minna smiled up at him.

Once again, Ivan felt his heartbeat speed up, much like the various other times he saw her smile. Trying to contain this strange feeling, Ivan looked away from her and shoved his hands into the pockets on his red and black overcoat.

Minna saw this, but simply giggled. "Don't worry! I like how honest you are!"

Ivan flinched just slightly when he felt Minna's small hand pat him on his arm. He was a bit surprised at himself with how he had reacted to her simple touch.

"Sorry, did you get hurt there?" she asked him.

All Ivan could do was shake his head in response. He heard her light giggle again.

"Oh right, I forgot that you could heal yourself," Minna sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.

"Not all the time," the gunslinger mumbled. "My healing has its limits. At some point, I need a cleric to heal me because my body won't heal itself all the time."

The sky above them began to rumble with thunder from the oncoming storm. Minna looked up at Ivan's face and finally stopped walking. She saw him stop as well and look at her in question. "We've...been living together for a while now and...still...I don't really know all that much about you." Minna lowered her red-auburn eyes. "I don't quite understand how," she paused and looked up at him, "how..._you_ work." Minna tried to read his expression as he remained silent. "Ah...I-I'm sorry," she stuttered out, blushing slightly out of embarrassment. "I know how much you don't like your past and I just tried to pry into your life." Minna laughed slightly in an awkward manner. "We...We should just get going. Athena will wonder-"

Minna stopped when she felt Ivan grab her hand. She looked up at the pirate in confusion and asked, "Ivan...?"

Without a word, he took her into the nearest alleyway. He heard Minna let out a soft sound when she was pressed onto the wall by him. "Are you really that curious about me?"

The orange haired cleric nodded without hesitation. "I...I want to know more about you. I don't want it to seem like we're foreign towards each other."

Ivan stared at her in silence for a while. He finally lowered his head, breaking their eye contact. "I see..." He took a slight step back away from her and reached around to the back of his head. Silently, he untied the knot that held the black cloth eye patch that covered his right eye.

"Ivan? What are you doing?"

"We need to start somewhere, don't we?" he whispered as he slowly took the black cloth away from his face.

Minna widened her eyes when she saw his other eye. Instead of a pure green emerald color, the iris in his right eye was an off-white color. She held her clasped her hands together and placed them over her chest. "What...happened to you?"

"I guess that my regeneration abilities have their own flaw," Ivan muttered. "...They thought that I could regenerate some of my senses if they were to forcibly damage them. When they blinded me," Ivan motioned to his left eye, "this one regained vision just fine. However, this one…"

"You can't see out of it?" Minna asked, staring up at him.

"Maybe it's my only weak point."

The strawberry blonde silently stood there, staring at his discolored eye. She hesitantly reached out with her left hand and gently cupped his cheek. "Maybe…maybe…I can heal it?"

Ivan closed his eyes, secretly relishing the warmth he felt from her gloved hand. "You can't. They already tried. _I_…already tried," he whispered. He felt Minna's thumb run over his eyelid lightly. His fingertips twitched just a bit as he unconsciously felt himself leaning into her touch.

"I can try, can't I?"

The pirate opened up his eyes and saw her smiling gently at him. "You're persistent," he told her with a soft sigh.

All Minna did was giggle in response.

* * *

"Eh? They might be in trouble?" Minna worriedly stared at Athena as the elven archer nodded slowly.

"I have instructed Dante earlier to send me a hawk, informing me that they were safe…just as a precaution," Athena added in. "I'm sure they are in the surrounding areas of Perion, but I have yet to hear from him or Alice. I fear something may have gone wrong."

"Did they go on a dangerous quest?"

"It is a quest similar to what Dante was assigned to a few months ago, only at that time it was with Cedric. Alice seemed able enough to handle a quest of this nature so I allowed for the two of them to go."

"I see…"

"Perion has become a dangerous area recently," Dances with Balrog added in, sitting up straight in his seat next to Athena. "I have visited the surrounding areas just a few days ago with a few platoon leaders." He solemnly looked at both Minna and Ivan. "I fear for the safety of the remaining native tribes that reside there in hiding."

"So then…Dante and Alice…?"

Athena cleared her throat and said, "Minna…Ivan…I want the two of you to go up towards Perion and find Dante and Alice. Like Dances with Balrog said, it's a dangerous territory. I hope you'll be safe."

The tribal warrior sitting next to her, nodded. "I'll be praying for your safe return, as well as the safe return of your friends."

Minna gave a slight bow and said, "we-we'll do our best!" She turned around and headed for the door, Ivan following right behind her.

"Ivan? A word please."

Both the gunslinger and the cleric turned around. Minna looked at Athena in question and then switched her gaze towards Ivan. "Miss Athena…?"

"I'm sorry, Minna. We need to speak to Ivan privately for a while."

The orange haired cleric nodded a bit stiffly, nervous about what Athena and Dances with Balrog might say to him. "Th-Then…I'll be right outside, okay Ivan?"

"Okay." Ivan watched her pull open the door and exit the council room. Once she left and the door clicked shut, he turned back towards the two job instructors.

"I'm sure you're aware that we didn't exactly clear you as a prisoner of the Aegis."

"I am."

Athena interlaced her fingers and placed them on her lap. "I believe that…we will need to organize a special reserve army in order to hold off Krylin's troops."

"Hold off?"

"Yes. It is to my understanding…that we are clearly outnumbered. We may have seasoned and skilled fighters, but we have no chance in winning in the upcoming invasion."

Dances with Balrog bowed his head slightly, disheartened by the news even though he already knew of this.

"Do you want me to join the reserve army?" Ivan asked rather straightforwardly.

"I'm sure that you are aware of your own powers and how capable you are as a fighter. However…it is your choice. I am aware of how much Minna cherishes you."

"…What will happen to her?"

"Those that are not in the reserve army will be placed on a ship. We plan to take all the remaining citizens in Victoria Island away to the continent of Ossyria."

"So…she'll be safe…? If I join the reserve?"

"She will be. However, those that are in the reserve cannot board the ships. There won't be enough time."

Ivan looked down at the wooden floorboards. He remained silent for a while, processing his thoughts.

"You're free to back out of this, Ivan. While your skills would be useful in the reserve army…"

The blond pirate raised his head, locking gazes with Athena. The only words that passed through his lips were, "I want Minna to be safe…"

* * *

Dante grunted as he hit the ground. His whole body felt sore and he had no incentive to try to move at all.

"Stop it!" he heard Alice scream out. He heard her cracked voice and wondered if she was crying. "Don't hurt him anymore! You're interrogating me, not him!"

Dante breathed lowly, finding that it was even painful to breathe properly. He knew that at least a few of his ribs were broken as he tried to take in a breath of air. Much to his displeasure, he was roughly pulled back to his feet by the two soldiers behind him. As they did so, he stumbled. It was hard for him to regain his sense of balance as he felt as if his head was spinning.

"Then, why don't you tell me what your dear platoon leader failed to tell me yesterday?" Fleischer delivered a strong punch to Dante's stomach. The archer grunted again, coughing a bit afterwards.

Alice felt some tears slip out of her eyes when she saw him cough out a bit of blood onto the ground. "I…I…" She saw Dante raise his head a little to look at her. He shot her a quick glance, silently telling her to keep quiet. Alice bit her bottom lip and cried, "I really don't know what Athena wants the Aegis to do during the invasion."

"Are you sure about that answer?" Fleischer grabbed a fistful of Dante's hair and pulled his head up. He pressed a small dagger up to the archer's neck and drew a small amount of blood. "I wonder just how easy it will be to sever his head. Maybe you'll remember the information if I do."

The blue haired warrior let out a frightened cry when she saw the edge of the knife draw more blood from Dante's neck. She continuously shook her head and muttered, "I really don't know." Her tears increased and she began to hiccup from crying. "Please don't hurt him anymore. He'll die."

The captain released Dante and took the dagger away from his neck. "Will he now?" Fleischer chuckled as he walked over to her. He pulled out a small vial of purple liquid. "Do you know what this is?" he asked Alice. "It's poison. Just a drop has the power to kill someone. Of course it's a slow acting poison. However…it will vary. You may have a few days or you'll only have a few hours to live after you'll been infected." He laughed again when he saw the fear in her eyes. After popping the cork, he poured the contents of the vial onto his dagger. Some of it dripped onto the ground, just a few feet away from Alice. "I wonder if you'll still be able to keep your mouth shut now," he said rather menacingly.

When he stepped over to Dante, Alice shook her head. "No…no…I really don't know."

"Do you now?"

Alice whimpered when she saw him pointing the blade at Dante. She saw the archer look at her again. He shook his head slightly. "I…don't …"

"Hm, I guess you really don't care about your platoon leader as much as I thought you did." Just as Fleischer was about to stab Dante in the stomach, a voice stopped him.

"Wait."

Alice widened her eyes when she saw Rose walking up to them. "R-Rose…"

The red haired sniper seemed as if she were ignoring both Alice and Dante as she talked to the captain. "Is it really necessary for you to do all this, Fleischer?"

Stepping back from Dante, Fleischer chuckled as he played with the dagger in his hands. "Are you getting a soft spot for your fellow Aegis members, Rose?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I could care less about them. However…I don't see why you need to waste your energy interrogating them. It's obvious that they won't tell you anything useful."

"So then, what do you want to propose?"

"Let the girl live."

"Are you serio-?"

"I'm not done." Rose switched her gaze over to Dante and stated, "I want to fight him. When I'm done, I want the girl to take him back to Henesys, dead."

Alice, shocked by what Rose was telling him, silently asked the sniper if what she was saying was true. _'Please tell me you're joking Rose.'_

"You're quite interesting." Fleischer laughed as he walked away from Dante.

The archer raised his head and saw him next to Alice.

"However…you should know be better Rose. You should know that I like to cut things."

The next thing Alice knew, she felt a warm feeling spread on her side. In a state of shock, Alice looked down at her body and saw a huge wound on her side. She slowly began to feel the pain as she fell to the ground.

"Alice!" Dante yelled out. He saw her lying motionless on the ground, her long blue hair covering most of her face. "Alice!" He fought against the soldiers that held him. "You bastard! You promised that you wouldn't hurt her!"

Fleischer held the bloody, poisoned dagger. He chuckled and threw the dagger down, where it stabbed the ground just next to Alice's head. "You didn't actually think that I'd keep that promise, did you? Now do you regret not telling me anything, you little brats?"

Rose tried not to let her shock get the best of her, but she couldn't stop her hands from shaking. She watched as a pool of blood began to slowly spread from underneath Alice's lithe body.

"Good thing she's not a huge bleeder." Fleischer commented as he looked down at her. "No matter, she'll die from the poison soon enough." He looked over at Rose and said, "well? Aren't you going to go through with your original plan? Fight him."

Dante felt the soldiers release him. He clenched his fists as he turned around to face Rose. He saw the shock in her eyes as she seemed to take no notice of him and only keep her eyes on Alice. "Rose," he started, hoping to get her attention.

The red haired sniper looked at him. She silently looked away and took the two swords a soldier handed to her. Wordlessly, she tossed one over to Dante. "We'll fight," she stated to Fleischer. "And…I'll make sure Dante…that you're the one that dies in the end."

* * *

**A/N** _Okay…there's like…a HUGE foreshadowing thing in this chapter. I won't say where exactly, but LOL I didn't even intend for it to be there. Unintentional, but it foreshadows an event that will take place at the end of this story. Once I post the last chapter, I'll tell you guys if you can't figure it out by then. _

_Some stuff to clear up…_

_Rose and Dante really aren't siblings. They aren't blood related and the fact that both of their eye colors are red is only a coincidence. Srsly. _

_Yes, Ivan is blind in one eye and that part of him does not heal. I don't want to make him some over-powered, invincible saiyan thing. LOL_

_And for sure this time, this story will end at chapter 29 or 30. _

_Leave reviews! I love reading them!_


	26. Blooming Rose

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths**_ - 17 years old - Hermit_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

**Julia Everard - **_35 years old_

**Krylin - **_24 years old - Necromancer (Dark Cleric)_

**Timm Fleischer - **_42 years old - Marauder_

* * *

**Aegis**

**Chapter 26: Blooming Rose  
**

"_My parents..." _

"_Dante..." _

_Rose looked at the young, preteen boy in front of her. He had his back towards her, but she could already picture his distraught expression that was on his face. "Just because...they're not properly archived like the other Aegis platoon leaders, it doesn't mean that-" _

"_Yes it does!" Dante fell to his hands and knees._

_The lantern that Rose held in her hands flickered, indicating that it needed more oil. She looked up at the high shelves filled with large books and saw the dramatic shadow that Dante cast over them. "There's probably another reason why they aren't in the archives."_

_He slowly shook his head and closed his eyes. "No...my parents...it's because they were traitors."_

* * *

"Didn't you hear me, Dante? Fight!"

Dante let out a low, trembling breath when he saw Alice lying motionless on the ground. The pool of blood underneath her began to spread out slowly. He tightly gripped the handle of the thin, steel sword in his hand and found that he couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"She's not dead," Rose told him. Dante looked at her and saw that she too was unnerved at what Fleischer did to Alice.

"How can I believe that...?"

Without any warning, Rose dashed towards Dante, wildly swinging her sword. Dante barely had time to block her swings as he was still in shock with what had happened to Alice.

When their blades met in a sharp clash, Rose whispered, "why are you holding back? Is it because you still think that I'm your sister?" She pushed off of him and watched him stumble back a few feet. "If you don't finish this quickly, your martyr really will die." Rose charged towards him again.

Dante could barely keep up with her swings and block them. Not only was he in a weakened state, but he knew that sword fighting wasn't one of his fortes.

As the fight wore on, Dante felt his body becoming weaker and weaker. He felt sluggish as his physical injuries sustained from Fleischer's interrogation began to take their toll on his body. He grunted when he felt Rose's sword graze his cheek, leaving a thin cut. When he felt his back make contact with the wall, he slowly dropped the hand that held his sword, feeling his energy draining from his body.

"Are you giving up already?" Rose questioned him, narrowing her red eyes.

Dante let out strained breaths and he felt as if his whole body was swaying. He felt exhausted and found it to be nearly impossible to move properly.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" she shouted.

The archer dodged her sword and got out from being cornered against the wall. However, he found himself to be stumbling. His knees gave way and he fell to the ground, completely spent. When he heard Rose come up behind him, he told himself to get up quickly. His body slowly reacted to the thought as his hand gripped the sword tightly. Mustering up the last of his strength, he managed to sit up.

"I'm glad I didn't teach you too much sword fighting...or else you probably would have killed me already," Rose muttered as he stood over him.

Dante gripped his sword tightly and whipped around, attempting to get Rose off-guard. However, he felt Rose kick the sword out of his hand and shove him back down. He felt a dull pain when she straddled him across his chest. In a matter of seconds, he felt the sharp tip of her sword on his throat.

Rose felt her hands shake as she tried to push the sword down into his throat, However, she found that she couldn't. She looked down at his face and she found herself to be continuously reminded of the past.

"_Rose! Rose! Look! I made this for you!" _

"_I want to be just like you when I get older!" _

"_I love you Rose, please don't go."_

Dante looked up at her when he felt a wet drop on his cheek. He saw tears pooling in her eyes as she struggled to deliver the final blow. When another tear fell to his face, he asked her, "why are you crying...?"

"Shut up!" Rose tightened her grip on the sword. "Why...? Why aren't you getting mad at me? You haven't gotten mad at me at all!" Her hands shook almost violently as she continued to cry. "I hated that you were praised so much by Athena! I was jealous when you got to be a platoon leader. I hated...everything! You annoyed me so much! So then...why...why can't I...?"

"_I'm so happy that Rose is my big sister!" _

"_Come back soon, okay? I'll miss you!" _

"Don't look at me with those eyes," Rose said through her tears. She began to imagine the younger, childish Dante was the one beneath her. "I hate you!" she suddenly cried out.

"Then kill me."

The sniper tightly gripped her sword, but she hesitated again. No matter how hard she tried, she simply could not plunge the sword into his throat. The recurring memories of her time spent with Dante in the past, played in head.

* * *

"_I really like you…and I was hoping that we could go out together."_

"_Go away; I don't have time for these sorts of things." _

"_But…I really like you…" _

_Rose watched as the short, brown haired girl buried her face in her hands. She then watched her quickly run away in tears. "You'll never get a girlfriend if you come off as some girl hater," she said to Dante, who seemed rather unfazed by the whole event. _

"_I don't care. I don't feel like wasting my time on something so pointless," he replied, turning around to face the red head. _

_The sniper sighed and shook her head. She looked up at Dante and spoke. "It's not just girls that you're mean to, it seems like anyone that tries to get close to you, you push them away." _

"_So what?" _

"_That's not healthy, Dante." Rose watched him drop his gaze to the ground. _

_A long period of silence filled the air surrounding them. Dante finally admitted in a low grumble, "...I know."_

"_When I'm not around, the only one that you talk to is Cedric and Athena, if she calls you in for a quest. I know…I know that you're hurt by what you learned about your parents. Is that…why you're pushing people away?" _

_Dante remained silent. "I don't know," he finally muttered. _

_Rose went up to him and cupped his chin, lifting his face up to meet her eyes. "I'm just going to assume that this is just your "teenage angst" phase of your life." _

"_I'm not angsty," the black haired archer grumbled out. _

"_You are." She laughed when he looked away from her in embarrassment. "You're only 15 right now, Dante. There's no need for you to act so straight-laced. There's plenty of time for that when you're a middle-aged man." _

"_You're not making me feel any better." _

_Rose laughed again. She brushed aside his bangs and stood on her tiptoes. Quickly, she placed a light kiss on his forehead. "Does that make you feel better?" _

"_Not really," Dante mumbled, blushing a little. "It feels like a pity kiss when it's coming from you." _

_The sniper messed up his black hair, much to Dante's displeasure, and gave his pink cheeks a slight pinch. "I'm only giving it to you because you're my cute little brother. Be grateful!"_

"_Yeah, yeah…"_

* * *

"Rose! What are you doing?" Fleischer yelled at her. "Hurry up and kill him!"

Rose cried and her shoulders shook. Her hands loosened from the sword slowly. "I can't...I can't do it afterall," she whispered, using the back of her hands to wipe away her tears. She set the sword down beside Dante.

"Rose!" The captain let out a sharp, annoyed scoff. "This is why I didn't really want to recruit this Aegis bitch." He picked up the sword that Rose had kicked away from Dante a while ago. "Are you going to kill him, Rose?"

Sniffling, Rose reached down and gently cupped Dante's face. She shook her head and smiled. "I can't..."

"What did you say?"

"He's my little brother. I can't kill h-" Suddenly, Rose stopped talking as Fleischer slashed through her back with the sword. She widened her red eyes as she collapsed on top of Dante.

"Rose!" Dante managed to sit up and hold the red haired woman in his arms. He started to tremble when he felt her warm blood coat his palms. "Rose! Rose, answer me!"

The sniper sounded as if she were hyperventilating. "D-Dante," she managed to whisper out. She looked up at him and smiled as she began coughing up blood. Her body began to tremble from the shock of the huge injury. "I…I can't kill you."

Dante caught her shaking hand.

"Don't put on such a sad face," Rose said with a slight laugh. Her voice sounded very light and fragile. "The last thing a sister wants to see is her brother crying over her."

"Who said I'm crying…?"

Rose slowly raised her hand, which Dante let go of, and caught a small tear that was just about to escape his eye. "Then…what is this?" she asked him, showing him the clear droplet that rested on her fingertip. She let out a weak laugh and whispered, "…Dante…take Alice and run."

"I'm not leaving you here!"

"I'm sure Athena and the others already knew that I was a traitor. Maybe that's why Athena never seemed to fully trust me," Rose let out a wry chuckle. "I don't mind dying here," she whispered, smiling.

"Don't say that!" Dante shouted. He gripped her hand tightly as he saw her eyelids slowly closing. "Rose! Rose!"

"I'm sorry…you had such a jealous sister, Dante." Rose's voice trailed off in the end. Her body slowly went limp in his arms.

The male archer quietly let go of her hand. "Why are you apologizing?" he whispered, laughing dryly.

"All she did was waste our fucking time," Fleischer remarked, bring Dante's attention back to the situation at hand. "I could have already killed you myself."

Dante gently laid Rose on the ground and stood up. He faced the captain with a deathly glare.

"Oh? You seem to have gotten some of your energy back. Are you going to take her advice and run away with your martyr? I feel a bit terrible, to be honest. You'll lose two of your most precious women in the same day. I guess both of them were killed by me if you think about it."

Dante picked up the sword that Rose had held. He quietly kept his eyes on Fleischer, but then he let his eyes flicker around the huge storage room. Much to his dismay, he couldn't see where they kept his bow and Alice's polearm. It didn't bother him that much as he knew that he couldn't carry both Alice and their two weapons all at once in the condition that he was currently in.

"Are you going to fight your way out? Ha! Good luck!"

Dante looked over at the stack of wooden crates near the entrance of the room. It was almost sheer luck that he managed to locate both his and Alice's potion pouches. When his eyes went back to Fleischer, he knew that he had to do this flawlessly without a moment's worth of hesitation.

"Hey! You brat! Are you listening to me?"

Before Fleischer could react, Dante dashed forth and created a slash on the burly man's side.

"So, you could still move like that, huh?" Fleischer asked, grinning as blood spurted out from his wound. He held a hand over his injury in order to try and quell the bleeding. Before he could advance any further however, Dante threw his sword at him. When the captain moved to dodge it, he looked back at Dante and saw him scooping up Alice in his arms.

"Stop him!" Fleischer shouted to the soldiers.

Dante ran towards the huge crates and gathered up all his strength to jump and climb to the top of the stack. He grabbed the potion pouches that looked as though they were carelessly tossed on top of the crates.

"What are you idiots doing? Hurry up and kill them!" Fleischer ordered.

The archer opened up his own potion pouch and fished around, finally pulling out a small blue rock. He tossed it up into the air and quickly whispered a short incantation. _"Flieg mir zum Himmel."_ In a flash of brilliant light, the dull, light blue rock instantly turned into a grand, noble silver hawk. Its feathers seemed to have a certain sheen to them. Once it was summoned, it perched itself on Dante's outstretched arm. It stretched out its wings and waited for Dante to give it a command. "Distract them," Dante quickly muttered.

The hawk let out a loud cry. It immediately flew over to Fleischer and the soldiers, weaving in and around them in an almost unrivaled burst of speed.

"Dante..."

Looking down at Alice, Dante saw her weakly opening her eyes. She had huge, dark purple spots right underneath her eyes, indicating that she was getting weaker by the second. "I'll cure you. I'll cure you, okay?" he reassured her, holding her close. "Just stay with me, alright?" Dante watched her as she nodded slightly.

"Don't let them escape!"

At the sound of the captain's voice, Dante felt a rush of adrenaline flood through his body. He took both of the potion pouches and carried Alice in his arms again as he jumped down from the crates. His legs ached from the impact when he hit the ground, but he tried his best to ignore it. As he ran out of the room and into the long hallways, he heard Alice speaking to him again.

"Dante...just leave me here."

Dante looked down at her, his face written over in surprise. "Idiot, don't say that."

"I couldn't protect you...I...I'm supposed to be y-your martyr...but-"

"I told you that I didn't want you protecting me!" Dante shouted. He continued running until he found the exit. However, once he stepped outside, he found that the winds were whipping around furiously and huge dust clouds were migrating over the rough landscape. Dante looked around and saw that the hideout was situated on the side of an enormous cliff. He assumed that down below was the valley where he and Alice had been in a few days ago before they got ambushed.

"Bring them back! He can't get very far while carrying her!"

Dante heard the voice of Captain Fleischer behind him and he knew that he wasn't all that far away. Quickly, Dante found a narrow path that led down to the bottom of the small valley. For one, he was thankful that there was a smokey cloud coverage over the whole valley. However, that proved to work against him as well as he tried to safely scale down the cliff side.

Once he got down to the bottom of the valley, he took refuge in a small crevice. The air was extremely dry as he fought to catch his breath. He felt like collapsing from the immense strain on his body, but he knew that he had to cure Alice first.

"Dante...he...he said that the poison can't be cured with a regular antidote," Alice whispered out, watching him dig through both of their potion bags.

"He never said that, idiot," Dante said under his breath as he fished out an antidote potion from his bag.

"He implied...it. He said the poison is...really strong."

"Stop talking. Just drink this. It'll taste really bitter though." Dante pulled the cork out with his teeth and spat it out on the ground. He then lifted Alice slightly into a sitting position and tilted it so that it flowed into her mouth.

When she finished drinking the entire bottle, she started to whimper softly.

"What's wrong?" the archer asked hurriedly. He began to panic when he saw her shiver uncontrollably.

"It...hurts."

Dante threw aside the empty antidote bottle and tried to look for another sort of medicine. As he dug through the potion pouches, he felt Alice slowly go limp in his arms. When he turned to look at her again, he saw that she had her eyes closed. "Hey!" He shook her slightly, hoping to get her to wake back up. "Hey! Alice! Wake up!" Dante tried again and again to get her to open up her eyes. When he couldn't get her to wake up again, Dante turned his attention back to the various potions that were now scattered across the ground. His hand shook as he desperately tried to find a potion that could help save Alice.

When he cleared away a few white potions, he saw the small vial that Nackt had given him. It sparkled and shined as Dante reached out to grab it. As he held it in his hands, it seemed to emit a faint white glow.

_"I suspect that Krylin fed you a potion of her own. It will counteract the poison she has given you." _

As Nackt's words resonated inside of Dante's head, one word of hers continued to stand out. _Poison. It will counteract the poison._

Dante pulled the cork off of the small vial. He held Alice tightly in his arms and whispered, lowering his voice, "Alice, I'll cure you, okay?" Dante paused even though he knew that she couldn't respond to him.

Quietly, he held the vial to his lips and let out a sigh; he silently hoped that the potion would work. Tilting his head back, he let the liquid enter his mouth. Instantly, he felt invigorated just by the taste of it. It felt as if the world's most pure substances had been mixed together.

Dante held the back of Alice's neck and let her tilt her head back. He used his free hand to gently edge her mouth open with the tip of his thumb. Finally, he leaned down and kissed her. He opened his mouth slightly and allowed for the potion to slide down her throat. The cool sensation of the mixture slowly began to fade away as he used his tongue to help her drink the potion better.

When he pulled away, he was stunned to find that the potion had already begun to work. Alice's skin felt warm again and her cheeks regained their healthy blush. The dark purple rings around her eyes had also disappeared.

"Alice?" Dante asked hesitantly. He waited until she opened up her eyes.

"Did...the antidote work...?"

The archer felt a rush of relief sweep through his body. He nodded as he smiled at her. "It did," he lied, thinking he shouldn't tell her what he really fed her.

Alice let out a soft laugh and attempted to sit up by herself. "I guess the poison really wasn't that strong, huh?" Immediately after wards, she winced in pain.

Luckily, Dante caught her before she fell back to the ground. "Idiot, just because the poison wore off doesn't mean that your wound disappeared too." He let her sit up against the wall of the crevice and he took off what was left of his white shirt. "Take your shirt off," he told Alice, to which the warrior responded with a bright red blush.

"Wh-What are you talking about?" she retorted rather loudly.

"We have to stop the bleeding. Even with all the potions we have right now, it still won't completely heal up a wound like that."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a girl!" Alice shouted, covering her chest as if she were already exposed. She watched Dante as he ripped up his shirt.

The archer shot an annoyed glance at her. "What are you covering your chest for? It's not like there's anything there for me to see."

"Hey! Is that any way to treat a girl that's been inj- ow!" The warrior held her side as another sharp pain shot through her body.

Dante let out a frustrated sigh as he leaned towards her and pulled up her shirt, exposing her stomach. "You're hopeless," he whispered as he wrapped the white cloth around her waist.

Alice let out a little surprised sound when his fingers brushed past her skin. "I could...have done it myself."

"Don't be so stubborn. I know you can't tie a bandage properly by yourself. Remember when we were on our first quest? You tied the bandage up so weird that I had to re-tie it for you." He scoffed lightly as he wrapped the white cloth over Alice's injury once more.

"Eh? But...you said that you didn't do it for me." Alice looked to see his reaction, but all he did was remain silent. She felt a slight rush of blood go to her cheeks when she realized that it was him, who helped fix her bandage back then. "Th-Thank you...Dante," she said, smiling.

"What for?" he mumbled, although he already knew the answer. "I told you that it wasn't me." Dante heard her giggle and that served only to make him blush. He glanced up at her, but tried to keep his head down in an attempt to hide the fact that he was embarrassed. "Quit giggling, idiot."

Dante tied off the bandage and cleared his throat after wards. "We should stay in here for now. I think there's a dust storm outside and that will give us some protection. I don't think the captain will waste his time searching for us for now." He took a seat beside Alice and winced as he gently leaned back against the rock wall.

Alice stared at him for a while, at least until Dante noticed her.

"What are you staring at me for?" he muttered.

The blue haired girl lowered her head. "You didn't have to go through all that trouble just to carry me out."

"Don't think about that. What's done is done." Dante held his injured shoulder and let out a soft grunt out of the dull pain he was experiencing all over his body.

Alice tightly held both of her hands together. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. She looked around on the ground and saw a few stray potion bottles lying around.

"What for?"

The warrior didn't answer him immediately as she reached to grab a white potion bottle. She took the cork off of the top and held the white potion out to him. "At least drink this. If...if I was a cleric like Minna, I could probably heal you right now."

Dante noticed her sullen expression. He let out a soft chuckle and took the potion bottle from her hands. "Idiot...if you were a cleric, Athena probably wouldn't have paired us up together."

"Eh?"

"It's not 'eh'." Dante took a quick drink of the white potion. He coughed immediately after wards from the terribly bitter taste it left in his mouth. "Athena paired you up with me because you are a close ranged attacker. Besides...you don't seem like the magician type anyways."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Alice mumbled, wondering if Dante was mocking her again.

The male archer let out a tired sigh and placed his hand on her head. "I'm not trying tease you if that's what you're thinking." He smiled gently as he pulled her close. In a soft whisper, he muttered, "you're fine just how you are."

Alice blushed heavily. She was so close to him that she could feel the heat from his body and the rush of his breath as he breathed. Her heart thumped wildly and she silently hoped that Dante couldn't hear it as well as she could. "D-Dante...?"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry...about what happened to Rose. I heard what happened back there...even though I was lying down."

Dante sat there silently. He lowered his head and gently stroked Alice's cyan colored hair. "Why are you apologizing? It couldn't have been helped, idiot. I'm just glad that you're okay."

"But...didn't you like Rose?" Alice hesitantly asked. She still believed that Dante liked the sniper in a romantic way.

"...I did. I guess you could say that," he said with a soft chuckle. "She was important to me."

The warrior felt a pang of disappointment when she heard him say those words. "Then...you should feel sad for her." Alice asked herself why she was feeling so rotten inside when he told her that he liked Rose. _"Stop feeling this way!" _she scolded herself. However, Alice knew that it wasn't possible for her to let go of her disappointment. It created a sinking sensation at the base of her throat and that sensation began to spread through her body. Alice looked up at Dante's face slightly and saw that he was slowly starting to fall asleep. _"I can't help it," _she thought, conceding defeat to herself. _"I think...I like Dante..." _

* * *

"Alice...? Alice, can you hear me?"

As Alice slowly opened up her sapphire colored eyes, she saw a fuzzy image of Minna's face. "M-Minna?" she asked, wondering if she was still dreaming.

"Thank goodness you're alright!" the bubbly cleric exclaimed.

Alice blinked several more times before she realized that she was still inside the small crevice in Perion. "Minna, how did you get here?" She lifted her head and saw that Dante was still asleep, or at least that's what she thought.

"Dante's unconscious." Minna's tone of voice changed quickly. She sadly lowered her head. "I tried my best to heal you two before you woke up, but Dante's body was really damaged." Minna raised her head to look at Alice. "Athena sent me and Ivan to try and find you both. She thought that you guys were in danger."

Alice looked past Minna and saw that the dust storm had cleared up outside. "Minna, I think...I think Dante said earlier that we need to leave. He said that they'll come and find us."

"Eh? What are you talking about? Who will find you guys?"

Then, as if it were an answer to Minna's question, a loud explosion from outside caught the two girls off guard. Loose pieces of rocks and dirt began to crumble down on top of them. Minna was the first one to act as she took hold of Dante's arm. "Alice! Take his other arm! We need to get out of here before it starts to cave in!"

The blue haired girl nodded and she quickly slung Dante's arm over her shoulders. As the two girls began to walk out of the tiny crevice, more explosions rocked the surroundings. When they got outside into the open air, Minna turned her head to look up at the steep cliff side and saw Ivan quickly scaling it by jumping from ledge to ledge.

"Ivan! What are you doing?" she shouted up at him.

"Set up the portal to Henesys. I'll hold them off!" Ivan responded. From his coat, he took out two more bombs and lit them. He threw them in the direction of where the entrance to the hideout was.

Minna took a hesitant step forward as she looked back at the blonde pirate.

"Minna, he'll be fine," Alice reassured her. "He won't die."

"O-Of course...!" The cleric remembered what Ivan had told her before about his eye and how that was his only weak point. "He-He'll be fine! He'll definitely be fine!" she said out loud, although it was only said just to calm herself down. Deciding that it was best to simply not look back and hope for the best, Minna helped Alice support Dante out of the valley. Once they reached a large boulder, Minna took out a Henesys town scroll from the small bag that hung off her hips. "These scroll portals stay open for quite a long time. Whoever Ivan's fighting right now, we need to make sure that they don't find this portal once we go through or else we'll just be handing them a free ticket into Henesys."

Alice nodded in agreement. "I'll stay behind to make sure that no one else goes through the portal. I'll jump in at the last seconds."

"No, Alice! That's dangerous! You're injured badly!" Minna protested rather assertively. "Take Dante and go through the portal first. I'll...I'll stay behind. I want to make sure that Ivan will get through safely as well!"

"Minna..."

The magician unraveled the scroll and it floated out of her hands. Instantly, the scrolled lit up and in a flash of light it turned into a portal. "Hurry! Go through it, Alice!" Minna let go of Dante's arm and allowed for the warrior to support him all by herself.

"But Minna-"

"Please, don't worry about me! Just go!"

The orange haired girl watched as Alice gave her one last hesitant look before walking into the portal. A sigh passed her thin lips when both the warrior and the unconscious archer disappeared through the portal. The next pressing worry on her mind was Ivan. Minna knew that he had his regeneration abilities, but his weak point continued to bother her. Because of this, Minna dashed back towards the steep cliff side, hoping to aid the pirate in any way.

* * *

"So, did the Aegis send you to deal with me now? Good, I needed a new toy."

Ivan stood at the mouth of the hideout cave. He saw the hulking image of the fearless marauder standing before him. When he remained silent, Fleischer let out a hearty laugh. "Did I scare you too much, little boy?"

Without any warning or words, Ivan dashed towards the captain at a shocking speed. To Fleischer, it seemed as though the gunslinger had disappeared and reappeared right before him. Before the marauder could make any movement to dodge, Ivan pressed his Concerto gun directly on his chest. In a loud bang, two bullets lodged themselves into Fleischer's body. There were burn marks on his clothes and the slight scent of burnt flesh filled the surrounding air.

"I must be getting old. I highly doubt that I could match up to your impressive speed, however..."

Ivan looked up at the burly man and saw that he seemed almost unfazed by what had just happened to him. In fact, Fleischer had a crazed grin on his face.

"However...I believe that what I lack in speed, I make up for with power!"

Caught off-guard, Ivan tried to dodge the marauder's sudden, deathly punch. However, even though Ivan was quicker than him, the gunslinger still received a strong hit to the shoulder. The blonde clenched his teeth at the pain that shot through his body as he tried to put some distance between himself at the heavyset pirate.

"Well, how was I?" Fleischer asked Ivan. He laughed when the blonde held his now dislocated shoulder. "Does it hurt?" he asked in a mocking tone.

Ivan waited until his body began to heal the injury. When his shoulder went back into its socket, Ivan felt the pain recede from his body.

"Oh?" Fleischer grinned when he saw Ivan standing up straight again, no longer showing any signs of being in pain. "You're a gunslinger, yet you can instantly heal yourself of any injuries..." The captain chuckled and asked, "you were on our side, weren't you? You served under Krylin along with that assassin bitch. Although, I'm a bit surprised that you managed to sneak away to join the Aegis."

The blonde suddenly raised his gun and shot off two rounds. He stepped back, a bit surprised when the marauder blocked the projectiles with his bulky, muscular arm.

"What's the matter? You look a bit scared."

Ivan eyed the blood that was now flowing out of Fleischer's arm.

"What am I talking about? You can't be scared. Hell, you can't feel anything. That's the only reason why Krylin valued you. You were nothing, but her loyal weapon." When Fleischer moved closer to Ivan, the pirate backed away slowly. He knew he had no chance at defeating him through close combat. "Aren't I right? You're only a weapon that kills whoever you are told to kill. I'm guessing Athena sent you here to kill me just to save those two Aegis brats?"

"You're wrong."

Ivan turned around to see Minna standing behind him. He widened his eye and wondered what she was doing there. "Minna..."

"He's not a weapon. He can feel the same emotions as we do." The cleric kept her eyes on Fleischer.

The tanned pirate laughed heartily, throwing his head back and holding his stomach. "And who's this? Is she your new master?" he asked Ivan. When the gunslinger didn't answer, Fleischer clenched the hand that was equipped with his King Cent knuckle. "What a great day, I've got to meet four Aegis brats." A blue aura started to form around his fist. "Too bad I'll have to cut your visit a little short." In a split second, the blue energy formed into a bright sphere that surrounding his hand. When he made a motion to throw it out, Ivan quickly turned on his heels and took Minna's hand. She followed him without any sort of protest until they reached the edge.

Ivan gently squeezed Minna's hand, silently asking him to trust her as he peered down. "There isn't enough time to take the path down."

Just as Ivan said that, Minna felt him take her up in his arms as he jumped. The freefall made the cleric's insides lurch. When she heard a thundering explosion from above them, she held onto Ivan tighter, burying her face into his shoulder. When Minna soon expected the impact of the ground, she instead felt a light and airy feeling surrounding her. She peeked and saw the bottom of Ivan's feet glowing in a soft light. When he landed on the ground, the light disappeared. "Where's the portal?" he asked her.

"That way," Minna pointed in the direction where it was located.

Ivan nodded and he ran into that direction. From behind, he heard Fleischer's rough voice shouting out orders, although he couldn't really make out what the marauder was saying. When he ran a bit further, the two of them saw the portal. Worriedly, Minna tightly held onto Ivan when she saw the portal was starting to shrink, indicating that it was about to disappear. Ivan noticed this as well and so, he ran faster, picking up his speed.

Just as the portal was starting to fade, Ivan kicked off the ground, lunging forth, and entered it.

On the other side, the portal spat them both out in the middle of the Henesys marketplace. Ivan landed on his back and slid on the ground while he held Minna tightly. It was a rough landing, which caused the people in the marketplace to shriek in surprise. Minna raised her head from Ivan's chest and grinned. "We made it!" she exclaimed, laughing.

Ivan cracked a little smile. "I guess we did."

Minna giggled and stood up on her feet. As she helped Ivan up as well, the cleric looked around, hoping to see either Alice or Dante nearby. "I don't really see them..." Minna seemed oblivious to the number of stares she got from the people in the marketplace because of their grand entrance into Henesys. She turned to Ivan and stated, "maybe the portal took them to some other area in Henesys! Ah, I really hope they didn't end up in some dangerous area."

* * *

Alice grimaced as she got up from the pile of black trash bags. She tried her best to get up without touching the ground with her hands as the ground was covered in some unknown slime. She looked at the surroundings and she assumed that they were back in Henesys. "Great...the portal just decided to dump us in an alleyway..."

The warrior got up on her feet and rubbed her head, aching slightly from the rough landing. She saw Dante lying there on the same pile of trash bags that she was on. Alice was a bit thankful that he was unconscious or else he would have found some way to blame her for the portal dumping them in the small, cramped alleyway. Letting out a sigh, Alice bent down and tried to pull Dante up by his arms. However, she found him to be much too heavy for her to lift just by herself.

Slowly giving up hope, Alice wondered if she should just drag Dante all the way to the infirmary. _"I might get a lot of stares though. It's not often that you would see someone dragging an injured person across the ground," _she thought grimly.

When Dante began to stir, her attention went back to him. "Dante...?"

The black haired archer slowly opened up his eyes. He looked at her blankly for a bit before he stumbled up to his feet.

"Dante? Are you feeling better? I don't think that you should be walking so s-!" Alice widened her eyes when Dante suddenly embraced her.

"You're alright!" he exclaimed, holding her tightly. "I thought I lost you."

"Eh? Wh-What are you talking about, Dante? You're the one that cured me. Don't you remember?" Alice tried to pry him away, but it seemed as if he would only hold onto her tighter.

It was finally Dante who pulled away, but only a small distance. He still held her closely as he muttered, "maybe I did." Dante chuckled and closed his eyes. "It doesn't matter. As long as you're safe, Alice."

Alice felt her face heating up as she felt Dante's hands on her waist. "U-Uhm...we...we sh-should get to the infirmary, Da-Dante. You're still in a bad condition." She looked up at him, but quickly looked away when she saw him staring at her. "You were unconscious earlier...s-so...you should be checked out at the infirmary." Her heart pounded against her chest wildly when she felt Dante pull her closer.

"Maybe later," he whispered, gently cupping her chin.

The blue haired girl felt him carefully raise her head to look at him. She knew that her whole face was probably red from embarrassment and she tried to look away. When he brought her face back up, Alice blushed harder. "Dante...?" Alice closed her eyes tightly as she saw him move close. She let out a shy little sound when he gently kissed her cheek.

"You're so cute," he said, chuckling softly as he dotted kisses on her jaw line.

Alice couldn't believe that something like this was happening between her and Dante. She fought to breath properly as he continued to leave butterfly kisses on her skin. When she didn't feel anymore kisses from him, she opened her eyes.

"Alice..." His voice sounded velvety as he moved in to her, looking as if her was going to kiss her.

She started to tremble as he closed his eyes.

"I...lo-"

Alice closed her eyes tightly when she thought that he was going to kiss her. Instead, when she felt a weight on her shoulder, Alice opened her eyes and turned her head. She saw Dante leaning his head on her shoulder and soon after, she caught him when his legs gave way. Still in a confused daze, Alice stood there in silence, leaning against the brick wall of the building. She held Dante and when she looked over at his face again, she could tell that he was once again in an unconscious state.

Her cheeks flushed with a lovely shade of pink, Alice stared at him and finally lowered her gaze. "You were just sleeptalking...huh?"

* * *

**A/N **_The next chapter will be long chapters. Maybe averaging out at 6000-10000 words each. Feh. _

_Yes, more fluff. There will be moar fluffy stuff in the next chapter and for those Ada and Cedric fans, there will be fluff of them towards the end of the story. Yeah, Rose died, for realz. Alice thinks that the girl that Dante likes is Rose. LOOOL _

_A lot of people asked me if I was going to write an epilogue or a sequel. I think I answered this in an earlier chapter, but yes, I WILL BE WRITING A SEQUEL. The sequel will be "post Big Bang" and it will feature some of the new jobs/classes. Plus, there's way too much unanswered stuff in this story (in my opinion) and I can't fit all of that in just 3-4 chapters! So yes, a sequel is a must. It will be much longer than this first story, chapter-wise and there will be an M rated scene in it. (If a lot of people tell me that they don't want to read romance-y, M-rated content, I'll take that part out and I'll upload it to my deviantArt account so that if any of you want to read that part, you're more than welcome to read it on my dA page.) All the characters will be in it (they'll be older) and I'll be adding a lot more new characters as well! _

_I plan to finish this story before the end of May. So, I'll be uploading the sequel on the second week of June. (At the earliest)_

_Oh, before I forget..._

_There's a poll on my profile and it asks you what is your favorite couple in this story! If you guys want to tell me through a review on which couple you like the most, be my guest. The couple with the most votes will be the one that I draw! If I get enough votes by the time this story is over, I'll tell you guys which couple won and the winning couple is the one that I will draw art on. _

_One more thing...(this is a long author's note, forgive me) _

_I did upload two drawings of this story on my Basilmarket account, but I won't upload anymore drawings to that site anymore. It's ridiculous on how biased the acceptance of screens/drawings are. So, if you guys want to view my Aegis-based drawings, they'll only be uploaded to my deviantArt account. I quit with Basil. Lul  
_

* * *

**Rose Kimura:**

_Age: 21 years old  
Gender: Female  
Height: 5 feet 10 inches (178 centimeters)  
Weight: 125 pounds (57 kilograms)  
__Eye color: Red  
Hair color: Red  
Class: Sniper  
__MapleStory in-game level (roughly): Level 80-99  
_

_Background:_ Rose had been an orphan since she was very young. She cannot remember her own parents and so, she felt as if she had something in common with Dante, who also cannot remember his own parents. She is very mature, calm, and collected. She is also very calculating and takes a lot of chances if they are presented to her. She has no known relatives or close friends; the only one that she could really trust was Dante.


	27. Dark Presence

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths** _- 17 years old - Hermit_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

**Julia Everard - **_35 years old_

**Krylin - **_24 years old - Necromancer (Dark Cleric)_

**Timm Fleischer - **_42 years old - Marauder_

* * *

**Aegis**

**Chapter 27: Dark Presence  
**

"He'll probably be out of it for the next few days."

Alice kept her eyes on Dante, who was lying down upon the clean white bed. He was still unconscious and there were bandages wrapped around his chest and stomach, as well as his head and parts of his arms. The priest that was by his bedside had explained to them earlier that he had healed up most of Dante's more serious wounds.

"It seems that his body was past the point of exhaustion. Simply put, he overworked himself too much. It'll take a few weeks for his muscles and internal components to be fully healed," the priest stated.

"Thank you," Athena replied. She watched the tall male priest give her a slight bow and head out of the room.

Alice waited until he was gone before she spoke. "Miss Athena..."

When the female elf turned around to face the warrior, she widened her icy blue eyes when she saw Alice down on one knee with her head bowed down. "Alice...?"

"This is all my fault! I...I'm supposed to be his martyr, but I didn't do anything to protect him. If I had done my job properly, Dante...Dante wouldn't be in that condition." Alice closed her eyes when she heard Athena step close to her.

"Please get up, Alice. You are not at fault for what happened to him. If at anything, it's my fault. I shouldn't have sent you two on such a dangerous quest. To be truthful, I knew that Dante was capable of completing a quest such as this, however, I pushed my luck when I sent you there as well. Do not feel bad, Alice. The quest I assigned you both was much too dangerous for a martyr." Athena knelt down and gently cupped Alice's chin, raising her head. She smiled kindly and said, "you did your best. Dante will recover soon enough and everything will be fine."

"Y-Yes, Miss Athena. I'm...I'm sorry."

Athena helped Alice to her feet and held the warrior's hand in hers. Alice was amazed at how smooth and delicate the archer's hand felt as Athena held her hand. "Don't apologize. None of it was your fault." She paused when there was a knock on the door.

Alice could tell that it was Minna by the soft, delicate sounding voice. "Miss Athena...? May we come in? We just saw the priest leave so..."

"Yes, you may Minna." Athena lowered her voice down to a whisper and said to Alice, "you mustn't look so sullen or else your friends will be worried as well, okay?" When she saw Alice nod, Athena smiled at her. "Good. Be sure to get some rest. You are injured as well."

"Thank you." The blue haired girl found her eyes going back to Dante. She cracked a small smile just for Athena to see that she would be okay, however, she knew that until Dante woke up, all she would do is drown in her own guilt.

When the archer opened the door, Minna stood there, along with Ivan, Cedric, and Ada. Athena smiled at them and brought her index finger to her lips. "Dante will be fine. Don't be too loud in there, there are other people recovering in this infirmary after all."

Minna nodded, but as soon as Athena stepped out of the way, Cedric darted in.

"Oh my god, Dante! What the hell did they do to you?" the bandit shouted loudly, causing Athena to sigh and bury her face in her hand.

Alice, surprised by the sudden outcry, turned to see Cedric, only to really see somewhat of a green blur go past her. She turned back to the bed and already saw Cedric at Dante's bedside.

"Hey Dante! Tell me who did this to you! When you make a full recovery, we'd better go together to get revenge!"

"U-Uhm...Cedric? He's unconscious..." Alice wondered if the bandit was just pretending when he made a shocked expression.

Cedric grabbed Dante by the shoulders and shook him. "Oh god, what _did_ they do to you Dante? You'll get better! Promise me!"

Before Alice could do anything to stop him, Ada rushed into the room and hit Cedric hard on the head. "Idiot! You'll kill him if you keep that up! Shaking someone that's unconscious won't make them any better!" she yelled.

"Ow! That hurt Ada!"

"Ada! You didn't have to hit him that hard!" Minna exclaimed, running into the room and kneeling down beside Cedric, who was on the floor and holding his head in pain.

"That's what he gets for acting like such an idiot all the time!"

Amidst the commotion, Alice watched Ivan quietly walk into the room and stand beside Minna. It was indeed chaotic and Alice wondered what Dante would say about this situation if he were conscious. "Uh..." Alice started to speak, but she found that the noise created by the others were drowning her out. "Excuse me..."

"All of you, quiet down!"

The bickering and commotion all came to a halt at the sound of Athena's commandeering voice. The elf sighed and said, "Cedric, please behave yourself. I understand that Dante is your friend and that you are worried for him greatly, but that doesn't mean you should shake the living daylights out of him!"

"Yes ma'am," Cedric answered back in a low mumble.

"Good, now that you understand that, I'll trust that everything will be peaceful in this room once I leave. The last thing that Dante needs is a distracting environment."

When Athena finally left the room, Cedric pouted and asked out loud, "why did she only yell at me?"

* * *

"At least you're still up and walking. That's good, right?"

"Mm, I-I suppose."

Ada noticed her friend's downfallen expression. "You're not beating yourself up for what happened to Dante, are you?"

"It wasn't your fault that he got hurt, Alice!" Minna added in, trying to cheer the warrior up. "I'm sure Dante would have said the same thing if he could see you right now!"

"But..." Alice clenched her fists and bunched up the white sheets on her hospital bed. "I feel so useless. Everyone seems to be able to take care of themselves and they seem to be getting stronger, while I...I'm just sitting here doing nothing."

"Don't say that, Alice! Athena told me that she assigned you guys a really hard quest! It's very fortunate that you came back alive!"

"Minna's right, Alice. You did your best. What matters now is that you're both safe and that you get better, okay?" Ada smiled up at Alice in hopes of getting her to smile as well.

The blue haired girl kept her head down, but she smiled just a little. Giving a slight nod, Alice replied, "yeah, sure." She still felt the deep, lurching feeling of guilt inside of her, despite what Minna and Ada told her. Alice placed a hand over her injury, which had been properly cleaned and bandaged up. "I...I think I'm a bit tired."

"Yeah, you should rest up."

"Does it still hurt, Alice?" Minna asked worriedly.

"Just a little bit." Alice laughed a little awkwardly. With the help of Minna and Ada, Alice got to lie down in her hospital bed safely.

"We'll be sure to visit tomorrow," Ada said with a smile. "You'd better be in better condition by then, you hear?"

The blue haired girl laughed and nodded. "I will, don't worry."

"Good."

"See you tomorrow, Alice!"

Once both of them left the room, Alice heard nothing, but silence. Occasionally, she heard footsteps outside of her room or some muffled voices of the patients in the other rooms, but for the most part she heard nothing. The silent got to be a little bit unnerving, so she would toss and turn in her bed once in a while to create some sort of noise. However, she knew she shouldn't move around too much if she wanted to let her wound heal without opening up again.

When the room got darker as nightfall quickly approached, Alice found that she couldn't fall asleep. Her body felt fatigued and her eyelids felt heavy, but something still kept her awake. Giving up on sleep, Alice quietly sat up in her bed. The white sheets fell from her chest and pooled on her lap. It unnerved her that the only thing she could think about was what happened the last few days. She couldn't help, but hug herself as she played through the events that occurred while they were imprisoned.

_"Why can't I do anything right? If I was a bit stronger...then maybe...maybe I could have prevented all of this." _Alice ran her thumb over the soft cotton shirt she was wearing, which was given to her by the infirmary. She looked out the small window beside her bed and looked up at the full moon. _"No matter what I do, you're the only one that ends up getting hurt." _The warrior looked down at her lap and whispered, "Dante..." Her hands tightly gripped at the white sheets. "I'll get stronger. I have to."

* * *

"Is my sister okay?"

Minna smiled brightly and rubbed the top of Sean's head. "She'll be fine! She just needs some time to rest!"

"Are you sure?" the little boy timidly asked. His bright blue eyes seemed to be full of worry as the cleric tucked him into bed.

"Don't worry about a thing. Your sister will be back before you know it." She giggled and gave him one last reassuring rub on the head. Minna gave Sean one last smile before leaving his room. "Goodnight, Sean." She quietly closed the door, making sure it shut with a soft click. Minna let out a sigh and stretched as she slowly walked towards her room. It had been a long day and the only thing she wanted right now was a restful night's sleep.

"Minna."

The orange haired cleric turned around at the sound of Ivan's voice. She tilted her head slightly when she saw him. "Ivan? What's wrong?" she asked. It was the first time that Ivan actually came upstairs to seek her out. It struck her even more odd when all he did was stand there without looking at her in the eyes. "Is...it too cold downstairs?"

Ivan shook his head.

Minna smiled and walked up to him. "You look cold." She gently pulled up the white, long-sleeved shirt he wore as it was falling off both his shoulders. "I think I got too big of a shirt for you. Maybe we could go out tomorrow and get you one that will fit." She giggled as the shirt fell off his shoulders again. "Should I get you an extra bed sheet?"

Ivan looked at her and shook his head again.

"Then will you be fine?"

When Ivan didn't respond, Minna laughed and said, "it's fine to tell me what you need! You don't need to be shy!"

The pirate saw her bright, cheerful expression and thought back to what had happened yesterday in his conversation with Athena.

_"So…she'll be safe…? If I join the reserve?"_

_"She will be. However, those that are in the reserve cannot board the ships. There won't be enough time."_

Minna took note of how silent Ivan has been since he was there. She let her laughter die down as she noticed him looking at her in a solemn manner. "Ivan...? Is something wrong?"

_"I want Minna to be safe…" _

"I-Ivan?" Minna widened her red-auburn eyes when she felt the gunslinger capture her in a tight embrace. Surprised as she was about his sudden display of affection she couldn't help, but secretly enjoy it. "Did something happen?" she asked, blushing when she felt him hold her tighter.

"I wanted a hug," he whispered, burying his face into her neck.

"Wh-What? This is...a bit sudden." The cleric giggled shyly.

"Don't be mad."

"Why would I be mad at you, Ivan?" Minna smiled and wrapped her arms around him. "You're very precious to me. Truthfully, I don't think I can get mad at you even if you told me to," she laughed a little at the end.

The blonde gunslinger couldn't help, but feel as if he could never let go of her when he heard what she had said. "I want you to be safe," Ivan muttered softly.

"Eh?" Minna gently pulled away from him and looked up at him in question. When she saw his rather sullen expression, she smiled and cupped his face. "Is this about what happened earlier today in Perion?" When he didn't respond, Minna giggled and brushed away his long blond bangs away from his blind eye. "To be honest, I was more worried about you. I guess I'm starting to get a little bit worried since you told me about your weakness. But...I'm glad you trust me enough to tell me something like that."

Ivan relished the feeling of her hand on his cheek. He started to bring his own hand up to hold hers in place, but she pulled away before he could attempt to do that.

"Don't worry about me, Ivan. I'll be fine!" she told him cheerfully. "Now...we should get some sleep. I'm sure even you'd be tired after all that's happened today!" As Minna turned to leave, Ivan grabbed her hand. "Eh?" Minna faced him once more and a curious look was upon her face. "Ivan?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. Ivan wanted nothing more than to tell Minna that he took up Athena's offer on joining the reserve army. However, he knew that she would strongly object to the idea of him being in any sort of perilous danger.

"I knew it."

Ivan looked at her in surprise, wondering if she had already figured it out.

"Something really is bothering you, isn't it?"

He felt Minna gently squeeze his hand. She looked rather worried and Ivan felt something clawing away deep inside of his chest. Unable to speak the truth, Ivan stiffly shook his head. "It's nothing," he said, letting go her warm hand slowly. "Sorry," he mumbled as he turned around to go back downstairs.

The cleric held her hands over her chest and watched him as he left. When he heard him going down the stairs, Minna tightly held her hands together and dashed towards him. "Ivan!"

Ivan turned to meet her. He saw her thin framed body gently silhouetted by the moonlight that filtered down from the small window at the top of the stairs. Her soft wavy locks of orange hair fell to the curves of her small waist and they swayed slightly when she took a few steps down towards him. "I-It's what Athena said to you, isn't it? After I left, she said something to you, right? Is that why you're acting like this?"

Finding himself unable to lie to her while looking directly at her face, Ivan turned away and muttered, "it was nothing. She didn't say anything to me. You should go to sleep. You said you were tired." He got down to the small living room, but he heard Minna following him.

"Should I get you that extra bed sheet? It looks like you'd be cold," Minna commented as she saw him lie down on the couch.

"It's not that cold." Ivan looked over at the orange haired girl and saw her still standing there, looking slightly hesitant about something. He quietly sat up and told her, "Athena didn't say anything important to me. So don't worry about it."

"Ah...uhm...okay then..." She still knew that something was bothering him, but she figured that as much as she asked him, he would continue to deny it. It was a long while before Minna began to shift her weight from one foot to the next, still standing there just a few feet away from the couch. "Uh...I-Ivan...? Can I...s-" Her face started to flush a soft pink.

"S-?" Ivan asked, imitating the sound she made.

"Sleep...with you?" Minna timidly looked at him and saw him staring at her in a slightly confused way. She blushed harder as she turned away. "N-Never mind! It was such a silly request!" Minna laughed nervously at the end. She stopped when she heard Ivan shifting the sheets. Curiously, she turned around and saw him lifting the white sheets up as a silent invitation. Minna felt her heart speed up when she saw this gesture. Blushing, she stepped towards him and gently placed her knee on the edge of the couch, only to find that there was barely enough room for the both of them. "Maybe...maybe I should just go back and sleep on my own bed," she said sheepishly.

Ivan took her hand before she could get off the couch.

Minna shyly looked at him and said, "I...I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"It's fine," the blonde muttered, helping her get in underneath the bed sheet.

In the end, there really wasn't enough room on the small couch and Minna found herself to be lying on top of Ivan.

"I...I'm not hurting you, am I?" Minna asked shyly, hesitantly placing her head on his chest.

Ivan wrapped his arms around her and honestly found the soft press of her body on him to be very distracting. It didn't help that she was also wearing nothing else, but a thin nightgown. However, with all of those thoughts aside, he closed his eyes as he took in her sweet scent. "It's fine," he answered again, whispering into her hair.

"I-If I'm too heavy...!"

"You're warm," Ivan murmured directly into her ear unintentionally. The warmth of her body felt nice to him and he secretly relished it.

"O-Oh..." Minna blushed and gently bunched the white fabric of his shirt in her small fist. She was at a loss for words on what was happening at the moment. Her whole mind seemed to blank out as she found herself concentrating on the weight of Ivan's hands that were on her back.

Ivan gently squeezed her and felt a light, fluttering feeling in his stomach. It felt odd to him as he had only experienced a sensation like that just recently whenever he was near Minna. He didn't know if it was because of that feeling or not, but for once, Ivan felt as if he could let his guard down.

"Ivan?...Are you asleep?" Minna shifted herself slightly and found herself to be looking down at the gunslinger's face. She smiled when she saw that he was already fast asleep. For a while, Minna stared at him and the more she did, the more she found herself blushing. She unconsciously raised her hand up to his face and traced his smooth, yet masculine jaw line. Her thumb gently stroked his closed eyelid; his long eyelashes tickled her skin. After a while, Minna brushed back his soft blond bangs to reveal his forehead. His skin felt soft as she leaned down and placed a soft kiss there. "Sweet dreams, Ivan," she whispered, smiling lovingly at him.

* * *

"You don't know how worried I was about you Dante! I mean...I was _super duper_ worried! The priest said that you wouldn't even wake up after a week!"

Dante felt his eyebrow twitch a little as he listen to Cedric's ramble. "Didn't the priest tell you that I'll be fine, Cedric?"

The green haired bandit slammed his hands down on the bedside, which caused Dante's bed to shake a little. "Fine? You were out for three days!"

"It's better than a week, isn't it?"

Cedric let out a frustrated noise and messed up his own hair. "You're always fainting and going unconscious so often lately, that I'm getting worried about you!" He threw his arms around the male archer. "Don't ever leave me again, you hear?" he said rather loudly.

Dante had a disgusted look on his face as he tried to pry the thief off of him. "Okay! I get it! Just get off of me!"

"You have to promise!"

"What?" Dante asked incredulously. He was amazed at how Cedric still managed to hold onto him even if he was trying to shove him off with all his might.

"Promise me! Cedric will be very lonely without his best friend!" The bandit began to wail almost overdramatically.

"Can you be any louder? You know there's people in the other rooms! And _why_ are you referring to yourself in third person?"

"But Dante-!"

The door to the room swung open. Both boys froze and slowly turned their heads towards the door. Much to Dante's great dismay, he saw Alice standing there in the doorway. Her expression seemed to be a mixture of shock and a bit of embarrassment as she saw the scene in front of her. There was a deep, awkward silence that blanketed the air around them which was finally broken by Alice, who grabbed the doorknob and gave a deep bow.

"I'm sorry, I must have the wrong room," she quickly mumbled before she slammed the door shut.

Dante, almost immediately after, managed to pry Cedric off of him and shove him onto the floor. "This is just great! Now Alice is going to assume things and she'll start to come up with ridiculous scenarios all on her own!"

"I'm sure that if you talk to her about it, she'll understand?" Cedric laughed nervously as he rubbed his lower back, which ached from his rough landing on the floor. "Besides! Alice looked like she didn't mind seeing us hugging each other! She was blushing, didn't you see?"

"We weren't hugging each other! _You_ were hugging me!" Dante shouted at the bandit, feeling his anger start to boil.

"I'm sure its fine, Dante! I mean...Alice knows that we're best friends!" He laughed, but it slowly died down as he saw the male archer glaring daggers at him. "Dan...te?" Cedric backed away on the floor when he saw his friend get up off the bed. "L-Let's be reasonable now!" The green haired bandit flinched when his back met the wall.

"Reasonable?" Dante chuckled darkly and shook his head. "We're past the part of being reasonable now. _Very _far past."

"Wait a minute, Dante! The priest said that you shouldn't be walking around so much! You should go lie down again and rest!"

Down the hall, Alice heard the sound of Cedric's loud, horrified scream. Alice wondered if she should go back and find out what happened, but she decided against it after she remembered what she had seen earlier. The blue haired girl shook her head rather vigorously and muttered, "they're best friends after all. Best friends hug each other...right?"

"Who hugs what?"

Alice turned to see that Ada was walking up to her. A broad smile was upon the female assassin's face as she came up to her friend, but it was quickly erased. "Woah, what happened?" Ada giggled and pointed out to Alice, "you look like you've just seen a ghost."

"Hey...Ada...?" Alice started to say grimly.

"Huh?"

"...Can boys hug each other like we do?"

* * *

"I told you for the last time...he was the one that hugged _me_." Dante quietly searched Alice's face, looking for any signs of a breakthrough. "Do you understand?"

Alice stared at him blankly and whispered, "I never knew...boys could hug each other like that."

The male archer had a look of disbelief on his face. Finally he let out a frustrated sigh and scratched his head. "This is just like talking to a brick wall...I knew that you would come up with some ridiculous notions if I left you all by yourself."

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing!" she quickly exclaimed.

Dante raised an eyebrow as he turned back to look at her. He was feeling a bit uncomfortable when she looked at him with an endearing gaze. "Wh-What are you talking about?" he hesitantly asked, not sure if he would like the answer that would soon be produced out of her mouth.

Alice shifted in the chair that was beside Dante's bed. She smiled and replied, "I suppose its fine for you guys to express your feelings to one another!"

"You're completely misunderstanding everything I just told you! And what _feelings_?" Dante shouted loudly. It only served to frustrate him more when all Alice did was smile. "You should be bothered by this if you thought that Cedric and I were together in _that way_!"

"Eh? Why?"

"Don't play dumb. Actually...never mind. You can't play dumb if you're already an idiot."

Alice stood up suddenly from her seat. "I'm not an idiot! You're just not making sense right now! What do you mean by, _I_ should be bothered?"

"Because-!" Dante stopped himself before he blurted out the next sentence. He looked away and and mumbled, "never mind."

Deciding to drop the argument, Alice let out a soft 'hmph' and sat back down on the chair. "You've been acting weird ever since we got back from Perion," she mumbled.

"Since when?"

"Since we got back! Right when we got back to Henesys, you tried to k-" Alice stopped and began to blush as she recollected what had happened a few days ago between them.

"I tried to do what?"

"You...don't remember it? At all?"

Dante began to feel anxiety and nervousness when he saw Alice blushing. "What did I do?" He wondered if he did anything that he would soon regret.

"It's nothing!" the warrior exclaimed, looking away from him. Alice found it hard to maintain eye contact with him.

"You're blushing! It can't possibly be nothing!" Dante pressed on, refusing to let go of this topic.

"H-How do you know? It could be nothing!"

"You're like an open book, idiot! It's not that hard to-_ugh-_!" Dante quickly brought his hand over his abdomen and cringed in pain.

"Dante?" Alice asked, starting to panic. She got up off the chair and stood over him. "Where does it hurt? Should I get a nurse?"

Suddenly, Dante grabbed her wrist and looked up at her. He smirked and whispered, "you'd better tell me or else I'm not going to let you go."

The warrior clenched her fists and angrily shouted, "are you kidding me? I thought you were in serious pain! Stupid Dante!" She tried to free herself, but with no avail. "I want to leave!"

"That's not going to happen unless you tell me first!" He held onto her wrist almost effortlessly as she continued to thrash and protest against him. Dante chuckled at her futile attempts and found it to be rather amusing. Figuring that she was going to continue to struggle despite the fact that she couldn't leave, Dante pulled her towards him.

"H-Hey!" Alice fell into his lap and felt his arms encircle around her shoulders. She was pulled up so that she was sitting in between his legs. Noticing this, Alice felt her whole body heat up as she stopped struggling.

"Oh? Already giving up?" Dante asked, smiling.

The blue haired girl held her hands over his arms and shivered when she felt his hot breath wash over her neck as he spoke. "I...I'm only stopping because I don't want to hurt you!" Alice blushed harder when she heard him chuckle softly. "Quit laughing! It's true!" she insisted adamantly.

"So...I'm guessing that you won't tell me what happened?" Dante asked, still laughing as he held her.

Stubbornly, Alice shook her head in response. Her heart beat fast in her chest as she felt Dante gently tighten his hold on her. "Stupid Dante...this is what I meant by 'acting weird,'" Alice mumbled almost inaudibly.

"So, I did something like this to you? Is that what you were so embarrassed about?" The black haired archer laughed again.

"Only because it's so weird!" Alice insisted. She shifted slightly on the bed and tried to put some distance between him and her. "It hasn't even been a year since we've known each other and you acted like you hated me before."

Dante leaned in close to her and felt her long blue hair tickling his cheek. "Do you still think I hate you?" he asked in a soft whisper, gently squeezing her.

"I don't know," Alice replied hesitantly, wondering what was the right answer. "You still call me names and you're always teasing me like you are right now."

"Idiot, how am I teasing you right now?"

"Because...you don't have any other reason to do these sort of things to me." Alice heard nothing from him after wards. She wondered if she said something she shouldn't have.

"Maybe..." Dante started after the long period of silence. "Maybe it's because I just care about you," he murmured softly.

Much to Alice's disappointment, she felt his arms leave her. The warrior felt the heat of his body quickly fly away as she sat on the bed. She kept her back turned towards him as she was afraid to look at him. In all honesty, Alice was stunned with what she had heard from him. She didn't expect him to care for her _that_ much.

"Are you okay?"

"Eh?" Alice asked, taken aback by his sudden question. She turned around slightly to face him better.

"Where you got hurt," he added in, pointing to his own body in reference to where Alice got injured.

"O-Oh! That! I'm really fine! Well...now I am!" Alice laughed and held the back of her neck. "I always used to recover really quickly whenever I got hurt, so this time shouldn't be any different!"

Dante smiled a little bit and replied, "at least you're energetic again. Minna came by earlier and she said that you seemed depressed."

The warrior let her laughter die down slowly. She quietly brought her hands together and gently pulled on the ends of her tight long sleeved shirt. "I wasn't _that_ depressed!" Alice flashed a toothy grin and she regained her energetic spark. "Minna was just worried about me, so she was just over exaggerating! I was just...re-recovering, you know?"

Dante thought it was a bit odd with how she was acting, but he let it slide. Instead, he chuckled and lightly tapped her forehead with his finger. "Of course you wouldn't get depressed. You have nothing to get depressed about anyways."

"R-Right!" stuttered Alice, "Nothing at all!" She found herself staring at the white bandages that were wrapped around his abdomen, wrists, and forehead. Alice felt the same pang of guilt from a few days ago, throb inside of her chest when she saw his injuries. Quickly, she climbed off the bed and fixed up her clothes.

"Are you leaving already?" he asked her.

"Well...you should still rest until you recover fully, right?"

"I guess." Dante curiously stared at her as she kept her back turned to him. "You should rest up too."

"Oh...y-yeah! I will, don't worry!" She let out another awkward laugh after wards. "Oh! Plus, it's getting late," she lamely added in.

The black haired male let out a tired sigh. "Yeah, yeah. I understand that you want to get out of here as soon as possible, idiot."

"It's not that!" Alice retorted, whipping around to meet him.

"I was just kidding," Dante chuckled when she flashed a look of embarrassment. "So...are you going to come back tomorrow?"

"Eh? Uhm...m-maybe...actually, I don't think I'll have time," she mumbled, avoiding his eyes once again.

"Really?"

Hurriedly, Alice shook her head. "I...uhm...have a lot of errands to run. Minna asked me to do them, so I couldn't refuse!"

"I see." Dante took note of her uneasiness. Putting aside all of his suspicions, he told her in a teasing manner, "just be careful. I know how much you like to daydream while you're walking. If you're not careful, you might run into a signpost."

Biting the inside of her cheek, Alice crossed her arms over her chest and grumbled, "always teasing me...stupid Dante." She then turned around and strode over to the door.

The ranger chuckled and asked, "did that make you mad?"

"Only because you're confusing!" she shot back. Before she could close the door behind her, Alice poked her head into the room one last time and stuck her tongue out at him.

Once Dante heard the door slam shut, he sat there in his bed for a while in silence. Finally he held his head and laughed at her childish action that was really meant to be insulting. "You idiot," he said in between his breaths. His soft laughter went on as he found out that it was hard to stop.

* * *

"Training?"

"Uh...y-yeah! I thought it would be nice to tune up my skills a little bit, isn't it?"

Alice watched Minna from the couch. The orange haired girl seemed to buzz around the kitchen, preparing dinner for them. "Well...just don't overwork yourself. You're still not fully recovered you know!" Minna remarked, handing a large silver pot to Ivan, who then set it on the stove.

"A-Ah...right..." Alice subconsciously placed her hand over the wound that was on her side. "I think I should be fine!" she reassured.

"Mm." Minna handed Ivan two carrots and a knife, asking him to cut them up. She then turned to Alice again and said, "you're still not feeling responsible for what happened with Dante, are you?"

"Uh...I uhm..."

"Ivan! You shouldn't be so careless with the knife! I don't care if you could heal yourself!"

The warrior sighed out of relief as she was thankful for that distraction. She frankly couldn't come up with a believable answer right at that moment. For a while, Alice watched Minna making a huge fuss over how Ivan handled the kitchen knives. She found it slightly amusing when she saw how Ivan seemed unfazed by Minna's lecture. "Should I help out, Minna?" she asked, getting up from the couch and walking over to the small kitchen.

"Hm?" Minna turned around, pausing her lecture. "I don't want to trouble you with all this cooking stuff Alice."

"It's fine! I feel kind of bad that you're always the one doing all the cooking anyways."

"Mm...then you could slice up the leeks, okay?" Minna began rifling through the basket of vegetables and meats. "It should be in here," she muttered. When she got to the bottom of the basket and failed to find them, she tilted her head slightly in confusion. "I could've sworn that I bought them...oh!" Minna suddenly exclaimed, startling Alice. "I remember now! I think that stall was too crowded so I told myself that I'd come back to it later." Minna giggled sheepishly. "I guess I forgot to come back to it and just came back home."

Alice asked her, "are the leeks...important? It shouldn't be _that_ bad that we're missing them, right?"

"Alice!" the cleric exclaimed once again, catching Alice off-guard. Minna sounded rather appalled by what the warrior had said. "It's essential to have all the right ingredients in preparing a meal! If you're missing just one of them, it's sure that the taste will be off!"

"Ah...I-I see."

Minna looked up at the small wall clock in the kitchen. "It's only 7 o'clock. Maybe the stall didn't close yet," she mumbled as she untied the apron she wore.

"I'll go," Ivan offered up, already walking towards the front door.

"Eh? Are you sure, Ivan? Do you want me to come with you?" Minna asked.

"It's starting to get dark," the gunslinger stated before leaving the house.

Alice looked at Minna after wards and asked, "he's not that talkative, is he?"

"Just sometimes," Minna said with a light laugh.

* * *

"Ah, it's so great that Minna has a boyfriend! Such a handsome one too, aren't you?" the old woman laughed as she slowly bagged a few leeks.

Ivan stood in front of the small stall silently, seeming as though he hadn't heard what the lady was going on about. He watched her as she finally gathered up the slightly damp vegetables in the thin plastic bag. As he took it from her, she waved her hand slightly.

"Don't worry about paying. Minna's such a sweet little girl. Think of it as a little gift," the lady said with a kind smile. "Hope you have a safe trip back. "

The blonde gave a slight nod of his head. "Thank you," he muttered. As he walked away, he heard the woman close down the stall.

A cold wind began to blow through the dark marketplace. Ivan didn't seem affected by it as he continued to walk back home. However, once he left the main marketplace, he stopped abruptly. All around him, he felt a sense of uneasiness. Quietly, he took a few steps forward and that's when he heard someone else behind him.

_"Ivan...how dare you betray me." _

The gunslinger whipped around. He saw no one behind him, but there was no denying the fact that someone or something was out there. When he slowly reached for his gun, but he felt nothing strapped to his waist.

_"Terrible time to be unarmed, isn't it?" _

Ivan felt his body freeze up completely. He tried to move, but he found it to be impossible.

_"A little bit foolish to be going against me, your master. Have you forgotten that I know your only weakness?"_

There was no question in his mind that it was Krylin. When Ivan tried to move his body again, his ears were met with her dark laugh.

_"There's no point in trying, Ivan dear. You and Si Hua are still bound by me. I wonder...should I try controlling your body when you're with that adorable little cleric of yours? Minna, was it?" _

The pirate warily looked around his surrounding, trying to find any signs that Krylin was near him.

_"I wonder how that cute little face of hers will look when she's in pain."_

"I'll protect her," Ivan whispered, starting to feel slightly unnerved.

_"You're quite fond of her, aren't you? My, my...how you surprise me every single day. Didn't the scientists that created you made sure that you weren't capable of human feelings?" _He heard her chuckle. _"It's quite sad. I'll have to kill you the next time we meet Ivan. I don't tolerate anyone that dares to betray me." _

The pirate let out a soft gasp when he felt the hold on his body leave. His legs nearly buckled out from underneath him when he felt the full weight of his body again. Ivan managed to keep himself upright as another wind blew through the town. The uneasy feeling disappeared and it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from the surroundings.

A shuddering sigh left his lips as he held his head; it ached slightly. What Krylin said just now, rattled him down to the core. Never before had he felt as if Minna's life was in any real danger whenever he was around. Now, it seemed as though it was more of a threat to her life if he was around her.

* * *

**A/N **_Hope you guys enjoyed the Ivan x Minna fluff in this chapter!  
_

_I'll try to update this story every Friday so that you guys can read it over the weekends. _

_I know there's still a lot of characters that don't have a character profile yet and there's only two/three more chapters to be added. The characters that I don't get to will have profiles in the second part of this story. _

_And thank you for the votes on couples! I think right now, it's a tie between Dante x Alice and Ivan x Minna. In second place is, Dante x Cedric. LOLOL_

_Yeah, I know there was some slight Dante x Cedric in this chapter. Before anyone asks, Cedric's just a bit flamboyant. _

_Read & review!  
_


	28. The Choices We Make

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths** _- 17 years old - Hermit_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

**Julia Everard - **_35 years old_

**Krylin - **_24 years old - Necromancer (Dark Cleric)_

**Timm Fleischer - **_42 years old - Marauder_

* * *

**Aegis**

**Chapter 28: The Choices We Make**

"It seems as though the place was abandoned and trashed rather quickly once our recovery team got there. Luckily in the rubble we managed to retrieve your weapon as well as Alice's. You'll get them back once the blacksmith repairs them."

"Okay."

"And Dante..." Athena paused before she stated the next topic. "Rose...we managed to recover her body. Because of the cave in, her body was badly mangled." The elf silently searched Dante's face for any sort of reaction, but he remained stoic. "Me and the other three leaders knew that she was a traitor for quite some time now."

"Then why did you allow for her to remain in the reconnaissance?"

Athena sighed. She had a distant look on her face. "I was hoping that she would come to her senses. Had it been someone else, I would have probably had them exiled already. I trusted her greatly. Maybe...I even thought of her as my own daughter." Athena gave a dry little laugh at the thought. "I never even knew that she hated the Aegis that much. Enough for her to betray us so easily."

Dante sat there silently. He stared down at the white bed sheet that covered his legs. Deep in his mind and in a small part of him, he still mourned for Rose greatly. "Where is she now?" he asked Athena.

Before the elf could respond, the door to the room gently opened up.

"Mr. Kyudo? I'm here to change your bandages," a young nurse stated rather cheerfully, coming into the room with a metal tray filled with many rolls of fresh white bandages and a small container filled with a clear antiseptic.

"Ah, sorry. I shall take my leave now," Athena said as she stood up from the stool.

"I'm sorry if I was intruding!"

"No, it's fine. His well-being is the most important thing after all."

The nurse set the tray down on the nightstand beside Dante's bed. "Well then, please take your shirt off, Mr. Kyudo. We'll be changing the bandages on your chest and stomach as well!"

Dante took one last look at Athena, seeing as how she didn't answer his prior question, before he pulled the white cotton shirt over his head.

"Dante," Athena suddenly said before she left the room. "She's already been buried in the cemetery past the East gate." The silver haired woman turned around and smiled gently at him. "I'm sure that Rose would like it if you would go visit her from time to time."

The soft click of the door reached his ears, telling him that Athena had finally left the room. Dante stared at the foot of his bed as the nurse unwrapped the bandages that adorned his arms. He felt rather conflicted on whether or not he really wanted to visit Rose's grave. A part of him didn't want to come to terms that Rose was really dead, gone from this world. Then again, another part of him knew that he had to face the harsh reality that one of the only people that he could fully trust was dead.

At this, Dante let out a trembling breath and closed his eyes.

"Does it hurt?" the young female nurse asked him as she dabbed a small, damp cotton ball over some of the cuts he had on his neck and collarbone.

"Huh? N-No..." Dante stuttered out, briefly snapping out of his own thoughts. "I...I was just thinking about something. S-Sorry."

The short petite nurse giggled as she began to unwrap the bandage that was around his chest. "Well, at least you get to get out of here as soon as I'm done. It's quite amazing that you managed to recover so quickly. Most people were this badly injured stayed here for at least two weeks, but you've only been here for half as long!"

Dante found it hard to believe that he had only been in the infirmary for a week. To him, it felt as if a few weeks had already gone by.

"There we go!" the nurse exclaimed, tying off the last bandage on his body. "Don't overwork yourself! Your wounds still have a possibility of opening up if you move around too much."

Before the archer could thank her for her work, there was a loud pounding on the door to his room.

"You may come in! I'm all done with him!" she called out in a sweet voice as she picked up the tray from the nightstand.

The door promptly opened up and Dante wore a shocked expression over his face when he saw who it was. "Nackt...?" He watched the short, black haired mage walk over to him. Her facial expression seemed solemn and her hands were held behind her back.

She waited until the nurse left the room before she spoke to him. "How are you?" she asked, her voice sounding rather stern.

"I'm fine now," Dante answered. He looked at her curiously and asked, "what are you doing here?"

Nackt scoffed lightly and held her head high. "I've thought about what your partner told me before when you two came into my palace. Even though she insulted me with her tone and her behavior, I couldn't help but recognize her spirit. In the end...I suppose I'm just here to lend a helping hand with this war. I too, wish to put an end to Krylin's terror and bring peace to this world."

"I see..."

The archmage kept her dark blue eyes on him and finally she asked, "what became of the potion I gave you?"

Dante looked away from her, feeling slightly nervous by her question. "Why do you ask?"

"I still feel Krylin's magic all over you. In fact, I think it's a bit stronger than last time." Nackt narrowed her eyes at him and whispered lowly, "don't tell me you haven't drunk it yet?"

There was a long period of silence between the two. Dante could feel that Nackt wanted an honest answer out of him as he sat there in the bed. "A week ago," he slowly started, "Alice and I were assigned to a quest in Perion. Somehow along the way, she got injured badly with a strange poison. It wouldn't go away even when I gave her an antidote to drink." Dante let out a frustrated sigh. "There was nothing else I could have done. She would be dead by now if she didn't drink your potion."

Nackt closed her eyes and shook her head. "You didn't drink any of it?"

"I fed it to her myself," Dante interrupted.

"No, no..." The archmage furrowed her brow and had a deep look of concern in her eyes. "Even if the potion was in your mouth, I doubt it would have done anything to improve your condition. Frankly, I'm not sure if the potion would work if you only took in such a small amount."

"Why are you concerning yourself so much over this?"

"Do you understand what is keeping Krylin from taking over the whole world? If you think that it is because her magic skills are weak, you're wrong. Krylin is far more capable than you'll ever be aware of. The only thing that's stopping her from destroying the rest of us is her failing body."

"So then..."

"She may not look that sick, but it's all a facade. I'm assuming that if it weren't for her powerful dark magic, she wouldn't be alive." Nackt narrowed her eyes at Dante. "Do you understand? If she manages to obtain your body, she can recreate the world to her liking. Her powers would be strong enough to break up the continents of Victoria, Ossyria, and Maple in just one blow."

Overwhelmed and rather shocked by what Nackt was telling him, Dante couldn't help, but tremble as he tightly clutched onto the white bed sheets. "I needed to save her," he finally managed to whisper out. "It was the only thing that could save her at that moment."

Nackt spoke calmly, noticing Dante's unrest. "I'm not blaming you for not taking the potion when you should have. But tell me this...why didn't you take it earlier? Why didn't you take it right after I gave it to you?"

"I don't know," Dante muttered.

"Were you just hoping that it would go away? Or were you just going to succumb to Krylin's power?"

Frustrated by how Nackt was interrogating him, Dante grit his teeth and closed his eyes tightly. "I don't know," he replied again, enunciating each word clearly.

"Or were you just planning on dying?" Nackt finally asked. She noticed a slight reaction out of the archer. "Was that it? Were you just going to take the easy way out and get yourself killed?" The ice mage let out a huff of disbelief as Dante remained silent. Her blue eyes darted over to the bandages over his body and asked, "is this why you purposely put yourself in risky situations? I have never seen a platoon leader get this injured, even if it was a dangerous quest. They're either dead or alive." When Dante still didn't respond, Nackt shook her head and let out a sharp exhale. "Do as you wish. I suppose that's one way to keep Krylin from obtaining your body. She obviously can't pass off her soul to a dead corpse. However, with this decision...how will-?" Nackt stopped talking when the door to the room clicked open.

Both of them turned to see who it was.

"U-Uhm...should I come back another time...?" It was Alice standing at the door. She looked surprised to see Nackt as she timidly took a small step back.

"No, I was just about to leave anyways," the mage stated. She glanced at Dante once more, silently telling him that their conversation was far from over. "It's nice to see that you two are still well. Take care of yourselves." Nackt said, keeping her eyes on Dante. She finally turned away and walked out of the room.

Alice stepped aside for her and watched the young woman until she turned a corner and disappeared from sight. Curiously, Alice looked into the room and at Dante, who seemed greatly distressed. "Why was Nackt here?" she asked, walking into the room.

"No reason," Dante muttered. When he didn't hear anything from Alice, he looked up at her and asked, "aren't you going to say anything?"

"Eh?"

"You'd usually be pestering me for the answer by now."

"Oh..." The blue haired girl walked over to his bed and set down the clothes that she was holding. "You seem mad," she mumbled, keeping her head low.

Dante blinked and stared at her, slightly taken aback at her answer. Unintentionally, he let out a soft chuckle and gently rubbed the top of her head. "You idiot..."

Alice flinched at his touch, but grew accustomed to it quickly. She found herself to secretly like it whenever he did that to her.

"You don't need to concern yourself over it, okay?" Dante took his hand away and reached for the clothes that Alice brought him. "Did you get these from my room?" he asked, taking the black leather shoes away from the pile and setting down on the floor.

"Ah, n-no. I just happened to run into Cedric on my way here and he said that he was going to give these to you, but he said I should give them to you instead," Alice mumbled, slightly confused as why Cedric did that.

Dante sighed, he himself knowing the _real _reason why. He knew that Cedric was fully aware of how he felt for Alice and there was no doubt in his mind that the bandit purposely sent Alice here for that reason. "That moron," he muttered under his breath as he reached for the dark gray dress shirt Alice had brought him.

"Eh? Did you...say something...?"

The archer didn't answer her as he slipped on the shirt. He climbed out of the bed steadily and grabbed the pair of black slacks off the bed. Just as he slipped his thumb underneath the waistband of the white cotton pants he was wearing, he heard Alice let out a surprised sound and turn around quickly.

"You could have told me that you were changing!" she yelled loudly, covering her eyes even though she already had her back turned towards him.

"Wasn't it obvious that I was?" Dante scoffed lightly as he stripped himself of the pants. He glanced up at Alice when he dropped the pants onto the ground. An involuntary chuckle escaped him when he saw her flinch just barely in response to the noise. It never ceased to amuse him with how shy Alice became on certain occasions.

Once he finished putting on his pants, Dante slipped his feet into the black leather shoes that were on the ground. "Idiot, you could turn around now. I'm done."

Alice peeked at him once just to make sure. She then turned around to meet him again, however, she kept her gaze away from him as she was still embarrassed over the fact that he was undressing behind her just a minute ago. "Wh-Where are you going to go now?"

"I'm not sure...why?"

The blue haired girl felt her heart speed up inside of her chest as she timidly shuffled her feet on the tiled floors. "I-I see..."

Dante noticed her odd behavior as she continued to stand there in front of him. He sighed and began buttoning up his dress shirt. "If you have something to say, then say it."

Her speech faltered as Alice tried to come up with the right words to say. "It...It's just that...i-if you have time...if you're not busy then maybe we could...go somewhere..."

"What? You mean...like a date?"

Alice immediately felt her face heat up at the sound of the word. She shook her vigorously and retorted, "it's not a date! Stupid Dante! It's...It's just-..." Nervously, Alice turned away and looked up at the ceiling, trying to find the right word. "I just want to pay you back for saving me! Y-Yeah, that's it! From the poison!"

"Huh..." Dante muttered. He didn't know what to say about her hastily thought up reason. "You don't have to do all that just to thank me." Deep inside, he felt a bit embarrassed that she told him something like that.

"I want to!" Alice insisted. She blushed heavily as she turned around and headed towards the door. "D-Don't back out of it!" she stuttered, turning her head back around to face him.

It confused him greatly with how she was acting, but Dante decided to play along. He let out a sigh and ran his hand once through his messy black hair. "I won't, you idiot. Not when you're being this persistent about it. So then...what do you want me to do?"

Widening her sapphire blue eyes, Alice bit her bottom lip and mumbled, "I...I'm not sure to be honest."

Dante scoffed in response to her answer. "At least plan out what ever it is you're trying to do."

"I'm trying!"

"Fine then, how about I meet you in front of your house after an hour? Is that fair?"

Alice hurriedly nodded.

Seeing this, Dante sighed again and asked, "so then, after an hour you had better be out and ready. If you're not there on time, I'm definitely leaving you."

"Is that how you treat someone that's willing to do something nice for you? Stupid Dante!" Alice placed her hands on her hips and shouted back, "and if _you're_ the one that's late, I'll just leave without you too!" Stubbornly, she let out sharp 'hmph' and stomped out of the room.

Dante heard her heavy, drawn-out footsteps receding down the hall as she got further and further away from the room. When he could no longer hear her, he felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You keep surprising me, don't you? Who knew you could be so bold as to ask me out like that?" He laughed softly as he exited the room.

* * *

"I'm sorry that we couldn't complete the quest you gave us."

"You don't need to apologize for that Dante, I have told you that it was too much for you and Alice to handle on your own."

Athena looked down at the male archer, who seemed to take the failure rather seriously. She sighed and got up from her elaborately decorated chair. "It wasn't your fault, nor was it Alice's. It was mine. I should have sent you and Cedric instead. However, perhaps even then...it still wouldn't have been enough to take down the cell. I didn't overestimate you or Alice, so please don't think of it like that. I think it was just because I had _underestimated_ Captain Fleischer."

Dante raised his head and looked up at the elf. He saw a distressed expression upon her face. There was no doubt in his mind that she was thinking about the vicious marauder. "He told me...that he was a part of the Aegis a long time ago. Is that true?"

"Yes," Athena whispered softly, as if she were ashamed of this fact. "He was a great interrogator. He managed to get us valuable information about the rebellion and our enemies back then. However...I suppose you could say that I didn't approve of his interrogation methods. At the time, it was just me, Grendel, and Dances with Balrog in the council. We all disapproved of his violent, cruel methods at retrieving information and so, we exiled him from the Aegis. He wasn't allowed to live in the areas that were under our control, that were the terms of his banishment." The elf quietly walked over to Dante. Her wispy silver hair flowed behind her in an almost graceful manner as she walked. Once she was in front of him, she gently took his hands and kept her eyes on his bandaged wrists. "He despises us for what we did to him. I'm sure he did all this to you partly out of revenge." After a long pause, Athena gave his calloused hands a gentle squeeze and she whispered, "I'm sorry Dante."

"What for?" he asked. "Miss Athena...you did nothing wrong."

"No, no." She shook her head slowly. "If I had been a little bit careful, you and Alice would have been fine. Perhaps if I had even been a bit more attentive towards Rose, I could have-"

"Rose would have left the Aegis either way." Dante looked down at Athena's hands and whispered, "we were both without a family. We were both lonely. I can remember when I was little, all I wanted was to live with my parents and have a normal life. I'm pretty sure Rose wanted the same thing."

"Dante..."

"You weren't our real mother, but you did your best. What happened with Rose wasn't your fault."

Athena stood there in surprise over what he said. She switched her gaze down to her hands and she smiled. "I wonder if Rose was thinking the same thing," she muttered softly, taking her hands away from Dante's. Athena stepped away and walked back up to the long table in the council room. As she placed her foot on the first step, Athena asked, "What are you planning to do about Krylin?"

Dante, taken off-guard by the question, found himself unable to provide an answer. At least an answer that he knew she would approve of. "I...I don't know," he stuttered out.

"Grendel still senses her mana all over you. Are you planning to do anything about it?" Athena waited for an answer, but she got nothing except silence. She walked up the last remaining steps and stood by the long table. With her nimble fingers, she touched the glossy wood and muttered, "Nackt has informed me that she had given you a potion that could possibly release you from Krylin. Did you at least drink it?"

"I had it in my mouth before I fed it to Alice."

"Alice?"

"She was badly poisoned by Fleischer during our quest. There was nothing else I could do. If it weren't for that potion, Alice would have probably been dead already."

"You took the best course of action then. You managed to save your martyr, where as the other platoon leaders would have left them to die." Noticing Dante's rather bewildered expression, Athena cleared her throat and stated calmly, "I suppose age has nothing to do with your martyrs, but I'm sure you are aware Dante, that all the other platoon leaders except for Cedric are well beyond your years?"

"Yes, I know."

"Martyrs are expected to die. Their only job is to protect their platoon leader to the best of their abilities." Athena kept her icy blue eyes on Dante and asked, "you seem a bit bothered by that."

"Alice...even though she doesn't tell me, I could tell that she blames herself over what happened to me."

"It _is_ a martyr's duty to protect their platoon leader."

"I don't want her to," Dante blurted out.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want her to protect me. I don't want her to get hurt anymore because of me." Dante clenched his fists tightly.

Athena saw his frustration over this matter. Calmly, she told him, "If she gets transferred over to another platoon leader, there will be no guarantee that she'll be safer with them."

They remained in silence for a long period of time. All the while, Athena kept her eyes on Dante, as if she were expecting him to say something in response to her statement.

"I..." he started quietly. "I don't know what to do."

"I hope you are aware that you cannot protect her forever."

"...What?"

"Have you forgotten on what will happen to you soon? If something isn't done, Krylin will take your body."

Dante closed his eyes, silently cursing at himself for momentarily forgetting about that detail. He knew he didn't have much time left after what Krylin told him. Perhaps he had even less than a month before her poison spread through his body. It was a truth that he didn't want to face.

"Nackt has informed me earlier that the potion she gave you was an extremely rare potion. Not only are the ingredients hard to collect, but it takes years to create it." Athena narrowed her eyes at him. "...I'm guessing that you don't have that kind of time."

"I only have about a month now," Dante muttered.

Letting out a sigh, Athena bowed her head downwards and squeezed her eyes shut. She wished she wasn't hearing any of this. To her, it sounded as if Dante had a death sentence waiting for him ominously. Was there no way around this?

"Miss Athena..."

"Y-Yes, Dante?" Athena stammered, distressed about the month long time limit that Dante had informed her about.

"You said...the invasion is drawing near."

"Yes, it'll be soon."

"Cedric told me that you informed all the platoon leaders about the reserve army while Alice and I were away on our quest."

"Oh yes, yes. I'm so sorry Dante, I don't think I told you about it. Have any of the soldiers in your platoon expressed any interest in joining the reserve? We'll need all the help we can get."

"If it possible for me to join?"

Athena stared at him in disbelief over what he said. Her lips slightly parted in great shock and her eyes widened. She shook her head in an attempt to clear the ringing noise in her ears. "Wh-What are you saying, Dante? You can't possibly be serious."

"Krylin wants to keep me alive. She can only take my body if I'm alive. If I'm going to die, I might as well die like this."

"You're not going to die, Dante. I'll fix whatever it is, is happening to you. I'll ask Grendel to do anything in his power to heal you."

"Miss Athena, I've made my decision. Even if you tell me no, I won't get on those evacuation ships."

Athena bit down on her bottom lip. She felt the burning sensation of anger inside of her as well as the throbbing sensation of sadness. "Why are you doing this Dante?" she whispered, placing her closed fist on the long table.

The black haired man seemed a bit hesitant about answering her. He kept his mouth shut and looked away. In the end, he didn't bother answering her, as he felt that it would only complicate the situation even further.

The elf raised her head to look at him when she heard his footsteps. She watched him leave the council room quietly and wordlessly. Athena didn't know herself as to why she let him go without answering her question. At this fact, she let out a sharp exhale and muttered, "how can you so calmly accept such a fate...?"

* * *

"Ah, you look so cute Alice!"

Minna clapped her hands together and squealed as she jumped up and down. Her wavy orange hair seemed to bounce along with her as she excitedly turned Alice around once more. "I'm sure that when Dante sees you, he won't want to let you come back home!"

Alice felt a rush of heat go up to her face. "M-Minna! What are you saying?"

The cleric giggled and waved her hand. "Oh, nothing!" she exclaimed in a sing song voice. Minna got up close to Alice and reached up to tighten the two pink bows on either side of Alice's head, each holding up a small lock of her blue hair. "Don't tempt him _too much_, okay?" She giggled again when Alice blushed even harder.

A sudden knock on the door was heard.

"Come on! He's already here!" Minna exclaimed, pushing Alice towards the door.

"Ah...I...uhm," Alice unintelligibly blabbered out. She suddenly felt a lurching feeling in her stomach as nervousness consumed her.

"I'm sure Dante will enjoy the date that you set up for him! Don't you worry, Alice!"

"It-It's _not _a date though!" Alice stood in front of door.

Minna giggled and placed her hand on the doorknob. "Whatever you say Alice."

Alice felt a strange tightness in her chest when Minna opened up the door. She was anxious about her outing with Dante and she knew it. It was her first time planning something like this after all.

"Oh! Dante!" the cleric exclaimed joyfully. "Are you here for your date with Alice?"

Dante lowered his red eyes as if he were embarrassed by what Minna said. He mumbled out, "I'm not sure if it really can be considered a d-"

"Minna! It's not a date!" she quickly cut in. Alice blushed up to the point where her cheeks mimicked the color of the pink bows in her hair.

"Of course, of course!" Minna giggled and opened up the door full, allowing Alice to see Dante.

"Ah..." There was swell of different emotions running through her body when she finally saw Dante. He seemed a bit surprised to see her. In response, all Alice could do was avoid locking gazes with him. A sudden wave of shyness swept over her when she felt his eyes on her.

"Hurry, hurry! It'll get too dark if you don't get a move on!" The strawberry blond cleric gently chided. She couldn't help, but laugh when Alice clumsily walked over to Dante. "Don't worry! You look cute, Alice! Doesn't she look cute?" Minna asked, directing the question towards Dante.

The archer avoided looking at Alice and simply cleared his throat in a rather hasty manner. "L-Let's go," he muttered, taking Alice by the arm.

"Eh? W-Wait!" Alice stumbled as she fought to keep up with Dante as he made an attempt to quickly leave the house. "Ah..." She turned around to face Minna. "I'll try to be back soon!" However, before she could hear Minna's response, they were already an earshot away from her.

It wasn't long before they turned a corner and walked onto one of the more busy streets in Henesys. Much to Alice's annoyance, Dante wasn't slowing down and his grip on her wrist only tightened.

"Dante! Didn't you hear me? I said, slow down!"

Dante did, in fact, stop. He kept his back turned to her, not saying anything and not making any sort of movements. Alice feared that she had somehow angered him in some way because of this prolonged silence. They stood in the middle of the street. Many people passed them and paid no attention to them whatsoever. Alice began to wonder if it was because of the crowd that he had suddenly fallen silent.

"Dante...?" she asked quietly.

He finally turned his head. "What?" he asked.

Alice widened her eyes when she saw the remnants of a soft blush on his face. She only saw his face briefly, for he turned away from her quickly. "U-Uhm...Dante?"

"What is it?"

"I'm not going to run away or anything. You don't have to hold onto me that tightly." Alice added in an extra little laugh at the end.

"S-Sorry." In embarrassment, Dante let go of her wrist. He didn't know why his heart was drumming away at his chest so much. Unfortunately for him, he flinched when he felt her shyly grabbing his hand. She had a broad smile across her face when he looked down at her in surprise.

"Let's go get something to eat then! I'm sure you're hungry?" Alice giggled softly when he just nodded in response. She thought to herself on how adorable he looked for a second. "What do you want to eat?" she asked him.

"Anything's fine," he mumbled, still finding himself unable to look at her properly. Mentally, he cursed at himself for acting so strangely around her all of a sudden.

"That's too broad if you say something like that!"

"Fine! Then...maybe...sweet dumplings."

"Okay!" Alice exclaimed, smiling up at him.

Dante felt his face heat up again when he saw her and he kept his head turned away as she took him over to the dumpling stall. He really didn't know why he felt this way towards her at the moment. All the other times, he could at least keep some amount of composure, but tonight, he felt only awkward and nervous. He snuck a few glances at her as she walked in front of him. Perhaps it was the way that was walked in those high heels, clumsily, but still trying her best to maintain her balance. Or was it because of the way her long blue hair would teasingly brush against her hips whenever she walked?

_"Stop thinking like that,"_ Dante scolded himself, holding his head. He hated how he sounded like some closet pervert.

"Dante?"

Snapping back to reality, Dante looked at Alice and saw that she had a concerned look upon her face. "What is it?" he asked curiously.

"Are you okay? It's just that...you were acting weird since we left." She bowed her head down and mumbled, "I'm sorry if I'm troubling you. I know I forced you to do this."

"Idiot, what are you saying that for? If I didn't want to be here, I would have left already." Dante couldn't help, but laugh softly when she looked back up at him with her big blue eyes. "Sorry," he whispered after wards. Gently, he squeezed her hand. "I'm not mad at you or anything. I'm just..."

"Just...?"

Dante felt another blush creep up his neck. He let out an awkward cough and held the back of his hand to his mouth. "L-Let's just go," he quickly mumbled against his hand.

"Ah...o-okay then."

In all honesty, what Dante wanted to say to her was that he was acting this way because of her. He found himself constantly stealing glances of her and thinking to himself on how cute she looked. Of course he couldn't find the courage to say something like that out loud. Especially if he knew that she was going to look at him with that innocent gaze of hers.

That dilemma gnawed away at his mind even as he and Alice finally reached the small stall selling the sweet dumplings.

"Can we have two please?" Alice asked the woman who was in charge of the stall.

"Of course, dear." The old woman brought out two small white plates and placed two sticks of skewered dumplings on each of them. "Are you two are on date?" she asked as she poured some sweet sauce over the dumplings.

Both Alice and Dante blushed at the question. He remained silent and Alice shyly stuttered out, "n-no! Of course not! He's just my platoon leader! Ah...we just work together!" the warrior quickly added in.

"I see," the woman said with a chuckle. She handed Alice the two plates. "Be careful then. Being in the Aegis must be difficult, but I'm grateful for what you do for us. If you want extras, just ask!"

"Thank you!" Alice smiled and gave the woman a few mesos.

Settling down on the bench just in front of the stall, Alice handed Dante one of the plates. "Here!"

"Th-Thanks." Dante mentally scolded himself for acting awkward again. He took the plate from her and picked up one end of the stick. As he brought the dumplings up to his mouth, he noticed Alice watching him. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Eh? A-Ah, nothing!" The blue haired girl blushed and looked down at her own plate in her lap. "I was just wondering if...you really like eating these."

Dante smiled at her and pulled one of the dumplings off of the stick with his teeth. When he finished eating that one, he said to her, "if I didn't, I wouldn't have asked you to come here, idiot."

"W-Well, now I know at least!" The male archer found her shy blush to be absolutely adorable. "Even though we're partners, I don't really know these things about you," she grumbled, pouting slightly.

"Should I list them for you?"

"Huh?"

"Let's see then...I like eating sweet things. Bubblings are my favorite creatures. I like bunnies out of any other animals-"

"Y-You don't have to list them all right now!"

Dante laughed at her. "Did that embarrass you?" He took her silence as a 'yes.'

"I just...want us to be able to tell each other everything," she mumbled out.

A pang of guilt stabbed Dante in the chest. When he heard what she had said, he couldn't help, but think about his voluntary enlistment into the reserve army. Since he made that decision, he told himself to not tell Alice about it at all. "Do you...trust me that much?" he asked her softly.

Alice nodded her head.

Dante saw this and felt another stab in his chest. He felt nothing, but guilt because of what he planned to do.

"Dante? I...uhm...I wanted to ask you something..."

The black haired archer blinked as he stared at her. "What is it?"

Alice fiddled with her uneaten dumplings. She avoided his gaze as she said, "back there...what Minna asked you...about me...you didn't answer her." She blushed. "I mean! I'm not going to pester you for the answer or anything! I'm just...curious..."

Dante felt his heart speed up as he muttered, "y-you look nicer than normal tonight."

"Oh..."

Again, Dante felt like hitting himself for stating something so obvious. "I think..." He coughed and held a dumpling up to his mouth. "I think you look cute."

What he said sounded muffled because he spoke with a dumpling against his lips, but Alice heard him clear enough. She blushed and felt a sudden surge of happiness nearly overwhelm her. "I look cute?" she asked him, wondering if he would say it again.

Turning a slight red himself, Dante silently ate his dumplings. He muttered under his breath, while chewing, "I don't want to repeat myself, idiot."

Alice watched him eating and saw how embarrassed he looked. She smiled at this, quite honestly, finding it adorable.

* * *

"Hmm, it's still a bit early," Alice commented when she looked at the huge clocktower in the distance. "Do you want to go anywhere else?" she asked Dante.

"Huh?"

"Don't look so surprised! I told you! This is payback for saving me!"

Dante walked beside her, through the busy marketplace. He brought his hand up to the back of his neck and muttered, "well, when you say it like that..."

"Hm?" Alice leaned forward and looked up at his face, awaiting his response eagerly. "Anything's fine!" she reassured him cheerfully.

Just one glance at her suddenly made his body go weak. He found her smile to be irresistible. "Y-You don't have to do anything else. Don't you need to get some rest? You're still injured, aren't you?"

Alice widened her eyes and stopped walking. She placed her hand over her waist, where she could still feel the heavy bandage underneath her thin white shirt. "I-It's fine! It's almost done healing anyways! Mi-Minna! I...I let her practice her healing skills on me." Alice laughed and rubbed the back of her head. "Don't worry about me!"

"Oh...that's good then."

"Ah! But..." Alice turned a slight red at her own selfishness. "S-Sorry, I got so caught up in all this that I forgot you're still recovering." She eyed the bandages that were wrapped around his wrists.

"It's not that bad." He smiled gently at her and hit her lightly on the head. "Don't worry yourself over what happened to me. If you don't want to go home right now, I'll stay out with you."

"R-Really?" she asked, her eyes wide and hopeful.

"Rea-" Dante found himself to be cut off by the loud voice of a nearby vendor that was selling pets. He watched in disbelief as Alice immediately ignored him and focused her attention on the small animals that the vendor was selling. "Hey!" he called out after her as Alice happily ran over to the pet seller. Dante groaned and buried his face in his hand. "Are you kidding me, you idiot?"

"Young man, are you interested in some hairpins?"

Raising his head, Dante looked to see a middle-aged vendor off to the side. He looked down from her smiling face and found himself to be looking at an array of sparkling hair accessories. "Ah...I'm sorry. I'm...not particularly interested in wearing something like th-"

"Wouldn't your girlfriend want one? She's a very cute and pretty girl. I'm sure a hairpin would suit her."

Dante waved his hand in denial. "She...she wasn't my girlfriend," he said with a slight chuckle.

"Oh..." The lady seemed rather downfallen by this news. However, her expression quickly became bright again as she said, "you two match each other quite nicely. You should think about it." She laughed when Dante blushed. "Now, now. It's nothing to be embarrassed over. Things won't be so awkward with her once you two share a mutual love."

The archer stood there, taking in what the lady told him. He glanced at the hairpins again and stepped closer to the display. "Then...what would you recommend?"

"I believe the pink hairpins would suit her the most. Didn't you think the pink bows she had in her hair matched her well?"

"I...I didn't really think about it," Dante lied as he picked up a pink jeweled hairpin. He set that one down and picked up another one. As he ran his thumb over the encrusted jewels and elaborate designs on each pin, he tried to picture Alice wearing them. He asked himself if she would look good with it or if she would even like it. After he set down the fifth pin, he spotted one that was fairly longer than the others and it was made of much stronger material.

"That one's a hair clip. It's mostly used to hold the hair up completely rather than for decoration," the vendor explained to him.

Dante ran his thumb over the small, pink crystal cherry blossoms on the clip's side. He knew that Alice had lost her original hair clip back in Perion and seeing as how she wasn't clipping her hair up, he assumed that she didn't have a spare hair clip at home. He held the ornate hair clip in his hand. This was perfect. "I'll take this one," he told the middle-aged woman.

"You made a nice choice," the woman replied, chuckling.

He deposited two small bags of mesos into her hands and thanked her for her help.

"No need to thank me, young man. You're the one that picked it out for her in the end."

Dante looked down at the hair clip in his hand and smiled. "I guess you're right."

"Dante!" Alice called out as she ran up to him. She had an elated smile on her face as she apologized to him. "I'm sorry! I really wanted to see the cute little pets they had."

Quickly hiding the hair clip away from her, Dante replied, "it's fine. Don't worry about it." He saw her glancing at the array of hairpins beside them. She seemed interested in them as she stepped forward to take a closer look. After a while however, she turned her attention back towards Dante.

"I think it's getting a bit darker all of a sudden, isn't it?" She laughed.

"Maybe a little bit. Do you want to go home?"

Alice nodded her head. "I think you should rest. You'll be too tired tomorrow if we stay out too late."

"I'll walk you home then."

As Alice started walking, she turned to him and exclaimed, "no it's fine! There's still a lot of people out and it's not _that_ dark yet!"

Choosing not to listen to her anymore, Dante sighed and took her hand. He held it gently, as if her hand was made out of fragile glass. "It's not a matter of you staying safe or not. If I send you off to go home by yourself, you'll only end up worrying me."

"Eh? Worrying...you...?" she asked as she walked beside him.

"Why do I always have to repeat things with you, idiot?" he asked.

"That's you say some really unexpected things sometimes!" Alice retorted, huffing at the very end of her sentence. She squeezed his large, calloused hand and mumbled, "is it bad if you repeat what you said, though?"

"What?"

"N-Nothing!"

They walked in silence, hand in hand, until they reached Alice's house. Dante walked her up to the front door of the cozy little mushroom house and stood a few steps below her so that he was looking up to meet her eyes. "Don't strain yourself too much."

"I won't."

"Get better, alright? I don't want my martyr injured or sick on the next quest."

Alice puffed up her cheeks in irritation and crossed her arms over her chest. "S-Same goes for you, stupid Dante! I don't want to have an injured, sickly platoon leader that can't do anything for himself!" She blushed when she heard him laugh.

"Alright, alright, I get it." He stood there, looking up at her. A gentle wind began to pick up and Alice looked down to see that Dante was still there. "Why aren't you going home?" she asked nervously.

The wind gently stirred his soft black bangs and let them dance around his face. Dante ignored the tickling sensation of his hair on his face as he tightly held the hair clip in his hand. "Hey...close your eyes."

"E-Eh?" Alice blushed promptly after hearing him. "Wh-Wha-What for?" she exclaimed.

"Just do it."

The warrior hesitantly fluttered her eyelids open and closed, but finally, she allowed herself to be rendered vulnerable to him as she closed her eyes. Her heartbeat raced when she heard Dante step closer to her. She swallowed harshly when she felt both his hands brushing gently against her cheeks. When she felt him gather up her blue hair, she was a bit confused. It wasn't until she felt him clipping her hair up, did she open her eyes. "Dante...?" When she saw him step back down, she raised her hand up to touch the clip that held her hair up.

Dante smiled when he saw her touching the crystal flowers on the clip. "You looked like you wanted a hairpin from that vendor earlier. Good thing I got one."

"But...these were expensive! And...and..."

"You lost your old one, didn't you?"

"Y-Yeah, but-"

Smiling, Dante told her, "then no 'buts'. You needed one and that's that."

Alice trembled, simply out of pure happiness. She held her hands together tightly in an attempt to stop them from shaking. "Th-Thank you...Dante," she mumbled, blushing harder.

He only smiled at her once more before starting to leave. "Take care of yourself."

The blue haired girl stood there in front of her door watching him leave. She felt a swell of gratuity towards him and the light feeling of affection. Perhaps that was what drove her to carry out the next course of action. "Dante!" she yelled out after him.

He turned around and it surprised him to see that Alice was running up to him. "What? Is something wrong?" he asked her, confused as to why she approached him.

Alice looked up at him and then looked away quickly. "I...uhm...I want to thank you..."

"Huh?"

"Can you...close your eyes?"

Still confused, Dante didn't know what she wanted to do, but he obeyed her and did what she said. He closed his eyes and waited for her.

Alice raised her hands up to his face. Her fingers lightly brushed against his skin as she reveled in how handsome he looked to her. Even with the still healing injuries on his face, he was perfect in her eyes. Alice blushed at her own thoughts and she stood on her toes to lean forward. Her lips trembled as they grew closer to their destination.

Dante felt a rather clumsy kiss on his forehead. He opened his eyes slightly when he felt it and however, clumsy or innocent it was, it had his heart racing. He could see that once she pulled away, she was blushing heavily herself.

"That was for the hair clip...okay?" she muttered, her face heavy with a strong blush. When she didn't hear anything from him, Alice blushed harder. "A-At least say something! It was really hard to do something like that-!" She was caught off-guard as she felt Dante embrace her tightly in a secure hug. "Dante?" she asked, widening her sapphire colored eyes.

"Thank you," he whispered into her ear.

"I...I didn't do anything though."

Dante smiled and buried his face into her neck. "More than you know," he muttered almost inaudibly.

"What?"

"It's nothing."

Alice slowly raised her own arms to wrap around his shoulders. "Stupid Dante..." She closed her eyes and enjoyed his warm embrace. It felt comforting to be in his arms as he held her protectively. In fact, she felt the safest she had ever been. "Hey...Dante?"

"Hm?"

"I'm glad...I met you. I didn't mean what I said to you before. I don't want you to leave...or die."

Dante gently held her tighter when he heard that. "I won't."

"Really? Promise?"

He couldn't bring himself to tell her what has been going on with him. The guilt alone tore at his heart, but when it was coupled with what she said, it only made him sink deeper into this guilt. Dante knew that Alice must never know of his plans to go into the reserve army. To protect her life, Dante told himself he won't tell her...ever.

"I'll never leave you alone, Alice...I promise."

* * *

**A/N **_Bleh, sorry. I had trouble with this chapter. _

_But yeah, until the final battle, most of the content will be conversations, conversations, details, and more conversations._

_I think most of you can figure out by now that...the ending isn't going to be a happy one. /sadface_

_Reviews are welcomed! They give me motivation._


	29. Dying Vows Pt 1

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths** _- 17 years old - Hermit_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

**Julia Everard - **_35 years old_

**Krylin - **_24 years old - Necromancer (Dark Cleric)_

**Timm Fleischer - **_42 years old - Marauder_

* * *

**Aegis**

**Chapter 29: Dying Vows (Part 1)  
**

_"She's already been buried in the cemetery past the East gate." _

The night wind began to make howling noises. In response, the trees that surrounded Henesys rustled and swayed ever so slightly.

Dante carefully held the bouquet of roses in his right hand and kept them to his side. He walked through the quiet part of Henesys, away from the noisy and bustling marketplace. The wind picked up again and the ribbon that held the small bouquet together tickled his hand as it danced around with the breeze.

After he had taken Alice home, he went to the marketplace and managed to stop the flower vendor just in time before he closed up his shop. Even though most of the good, fresh flowers were gone by then, the vendor still managed to make decent work out of the remaining roses he had.

The road became slightly untended the further he got from Henesys and the closer he got to the East gate cemetery. There was little to no light on the way there since the moon wasn't out. However, Dante managed to slowly walk into the cemetery and find his way around the many headstones there. There was a creaking sound in the distance, which Dante assumed it to be that of the mangled iron fence that surrounded the area. Much of the trees grew gnarled and bent, with the grass having rough patches here and there. The cemetery wasn't all that well-kept because there simply wasn't enough time to tend to all the grave sites. Especially since the war was escalating in terms of ferocity.

Dante could barely make out the names on the headstones as he walked further in. He finally stopped when he came across a headstone with fresh dirt in front of it, indicating that someone was recently buried there. In the darkness he stepped closer and managed to read the name embellished in the stone.

_Rose Kimura_

The male archer knelt down just before her grave. He held the rose bouquet tightly in his hand as he sat there in silence. He didn't exactly know what to make of all this. Never did he imagine that he would be living without the one person that he considered close. "I guess I really did think of you as my real sister," he whispered as the wind blew through the cemetery. For some reason, Dante found himself waiting for an answer from her. He wanted her to say something just for the sake of saying something. "Rose...were you planning to die back there? Did you know you weren't going to come out alive?"

Dante heard nothing, but silence. In his mind, he tried to make it sound like Rose really did answer him in that warm, comforting voice of hers.

_"It'll be alright, Dante." _He heard her soft laughter. _"Don't put on such a sad face."_

He knew that was what she would have said to him if she was there beside him. That was what she always told him in order to cheer him up. Dante closed his eyes when he felt them stinging slightly. "How can I possibly put on a smile right now...?" he whispered just as he felt a tear roll down his cheek. He quickly wiped away the tear with the back of his hand, just as a little child would. For the second time in his life, he felt true loneliness as the reality of Rose's death finally hit him.

Dante wiped away his tears, but he found out that they wouldn't stop. In the darkness, he stayed there knelt down in front of Rose's grave. Continuously, he told himself to stop crying, but it was of no use.

* * *

_"You can't keep crying like that, Dante." Rose said gently as she stuck a bandage on Dante's scraped knee. She was kneeling down in front of the small boy and watched as he continued to cry. "If you cry...those other boys will continue to pick on you." She took out a handkerchief from her pocket and carefully dabbed away his tears. "You don't want to show them that they've won, do you?" _

_Dante closed his big, teary eyes tightly and shook his head. At this, Rose laughed. _

_"Don't listen to them anymore. It doesn't matter if they have their parents. Don't let them tease you because of that." _

_"O-Okay..." Dante sniffled and Rose helped wipe away his last tear. _

_"Good," the redhead said with a smile. She leaned forward and brought him into a protective hug. "You're not alone Dante," she whispered. "I'll always be here, so don't ever think that, okay?"_

* * *

Wiping away his last tear, Dante placed the bouquet of roses on top of her grave. He silently stood up and stared down at the headstone. "You're not really dead...right Rose?" he whispered. The old cemetery was completely silent, aside from the old creaking gate in the distance. Dante closed his eyes and reopned them a few minutes later. He knew he couldn't deny the truth, but he didn't want to come to terms with it either. Quietly, he stood there staring down at the bouquet of roses, rustling and brushing against each other as the wind picked up again.

In a broken voice, Dante whispered out, "Rose...I love you."

With that being said, Dante took one last look at her headstone and turned away. However, just as he did so, he stopped in his tracks when he saw a familiar face before him.

"Xin...?"

The crusader seemed slightly shocked to see him as well. "O-Oh...I was hoping that no one would be out here at this time of night."

Dante saw that he had a single iris in his hands. "Are you here to see someone?"

Xin nodded. He walked past Dante and went over to Rose's grave. He knelt down in front of it and placed the iris beside the rose bouquet Dante left. There was a period of silence between the two until it was Xin who finally spoke up.

"Were you her brother?" he asked the archer.

"We aren't related by blood," Dante muttered.

"Oh I see. Sorry," Xin said with a slight chuckle. He looked up at Dante and commented, "she and you have the same eyes." With a heavy sigh, Xin turned back towards the headstone and let his blue eyes rest upon Rose's name. "I know that as Aegis members, we should prepare ourselves for the worst. It's obvious that you would lose someone eventually." Xin paused and stared at her grave. He gazed at her sorrowfully and had a broken smile across his face. "I can't really believe she's dead..."

"Were you close to her?"

"N-No...not that much. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't even recognize me if she were to see me right now." Xin laughed dryly and muttered, "I was actually partnered up with her for one quest a few years back. I was still new to the Aegis and the whole reconnaissance matter, so she guided me through the whole quest." The crusader let out a chuckle again and he brought his hand over his mouth, as if trying to silence himself. He seemed to be contemplating a fond memory from back then. "I'm not sure how or why, but after that quest, I felt...admiration for her. Is that even the right word to really describe it? I wonder..."

Dante watched as Xin smiled forlornly at Rose's grave. It was obvious that the crusader had some sort of feelings for Rose with the way that he was acting right now.

"Hey..." Xin looked up at Dante and asked, "this may seem a bit weird...but...you were one of the closest people to Rose, I'm assuming. So then...can I ask you if...she said anything to you? About me?"

Dante knew the truth wasn't going to please him at all. The reality was that Dante hadn't heard of Xin's name being mentioned at all during his conversations with Rose. Not even a close description of him. Knowing this, Dante figured the best thing to do was lie. There was no point in causing anymore grief for him.

"She did," he simply said.

Xin smiled a little bit. "I see." Hearing that his voice had lightened up, Dante assumed that he believed him.

It was a while before either of them moved or spoke to each other. Xin was the first by standing up on his feet. "I think I'll go back to the barracks now. It's getting a bit late." He laughed a little and thanked Dante for talking to him. Before he left however, he paused and seemed hesitant about what he was going to say. "Alice..." he managed to stammer out, "Alice...is doing good, right?"

"She's fine."

"Oh." Xin let out a little relieved sigh. "I...haven't really gotten around to really talk with her recently. Does she...does she hate me?"

"She's just a bit scared, that's all. I'm sure she'll listen if you talk to her."

"Ah, I see." The blue eyed man smiled. "That's good then. I'll try to talk to her again later." Xin raised his hand and bid Dante a silent goodbye. However, before he could leave, Dante stopped him.

"Wait."

The crusader looked at him curiously. "What is it?"

"The invasion...it's a month away."

Xin blinked and slowly lowered his head. "Oh right." His voice trailed off slightly, but it picked up again when he continued. "It'll be weird living in Ossyria, won't it? I mean...it's a lot bigger than Victoria Island after all!" He laughed, trying to mask his real feelings. When he saw that Dante was unresponsive, Xin let his laughter die down slowly. "I know...I wish it wasn't soon, but what choice do we have?...I mean...Krylin's army is a lot bigger than ours. Athena said the best thing for us to do is run for the time being."

"About that," Dante interrupted briefly, "you'll be getting on those boats too, right?"

"I suppose I'll have to. Why are you asking...?"

The archer lowered his gaze to the ground. He thought back to his conversation with Nackt, with Athena, and then finally his promise to Alice. The guilt tore at his heart, but he felt as if he had no other choice other than what he had planned for himself.

"Can I ask you...to look over Alice?"

"Huh?"

Dante faced him directly. "Please," he whispered. "Make sure she gets on the boats safely."

Xin looked utterly confused at what he was hearing. "I-I will...but why are you saying stuff like this?"

"I've made the decision to join the reserve army." Dante didn't wait for a response from him. "It's...complicated. I have my own reasons, but please...make sure that Alice gets on those ships."

"...Does Alice know about this?"

"If she found out," Dante chuckled dryly, "she'll try to follow me. I can't let her stay behind with me...I can't let her die alongside me."

"Oh." The warrior lowered his head and muttered, "Alice will eventually find out. Once she gets to Ossyria. She'll be hurt, you know. Even though all she said were hateful things about you, I could tell she does care about you a lot."

"That's why this is for the best." Dante smiled sadly as he turned his back towards Xin. He took a few steps, but then, stopped abruptly. "Xin," he said, drawing the crusader's attention once more. There was silence until Dante spoke again. What he said however, surprised Xin greatly.

"Even though you don't love her...just please take care of her."

* * *

A loud sigh escaped Cedric's mouth. He walked rather slowly and in a lazy fashion towards the council building. "I wonder why Athena never gives us as challenging quests. She knows that you've gotten a lot better."

Ada scoffed sharply as she walked beside him. "The only reason she doesn't give us any challenging quests is because she knows you're irresponsible."

"You're so mean, Ada!" Cedric pouted slightly. "I'm not _that_ irresponsible!"

The black haired assassin felt a vein pop in her head as she turned towards him and shouted, "you _are_ irresponsible! Do I even need to mention how I caught you flirting with three different girls during our quest?"

"But they-"

"They were working!" Ada hit him on the head. "They were busy helping out with the construction of the escape ships and you just distracted them!"

Cedric held his head in pain. "But at least we got the quest done, right?" He smiled happily, but was immediately met with another slap to the head.

"I was the one that had to ask the person in charge of the construction!" Ada huffed and turned away. "Why did I ever had to get stuck with a slacker like you?"

"...You don't like me then?"

The assassin turned around and found herself blushing at Cedric's cute, puppy-like expression. "Wha-? What's up with you?" she yelled, her face turning red once more. Needless to say, Ada couldn't help, but feel somewhat sorry for him because of all the physical and verbal torment she put him through. "J-Just don't slack off so much! Go-Got it?"

Cedric's face immediately brightened up at the sound of her words. With a broad smile, he excitedly asked, "does that mean-?"

Ada grumbled under her breath, "yeah, yeah you stupid-" She widened her gray eyes when she felt him throw his arms around her.

"Yay! Ada's not mad at me!" Cedric cheered, squeezing her into a tight hug from behind.

Shocked by his sudden, physical action, Ada felt her face heat up, almost to the point where it felt like she was going to burst. She trembled in response to his cuddly hug as she lowly started to say, "you..."

"Hm?"

"You damn pervert!" Ada grabbed his arms and pulled them away. In a split second, she used his arms to throw him a few feet away.

The bandit really didn't have much of a time to prepare himself, let alone expect such an aggressive attack from someone as nimble and lithe as Ada. In no time, he felt himself go crashing into a stack of crates and barrels that were on the side of the road. A few people that were out at that time of night noticed the commotion and curiously snuck looks at Cedric, who was now lying in the pile wooden barrels.

Ada let out a sharp 'hmph' and stormed away before he or anyone else could catch sight of her deeply reddened cheeks.

Cedric held his head and continuously muttered the word 'ow' to himself. Pain radiated from nearly all parts of his body, but he slowly got up onto his feet despite it all.

"About time someone did that to you."

Cedric looked up and saw Dante standing over him, offering him a helping hand. He took his friend's hand and laughed. "I wasn't really expecting that from my cute little Ada."

Dante sighed and shook his head. "If she heard you right now, she would have thrown you again."

"You think so?"

It irked the archer when he heard the slightest bit of hopefulness in his friend's voice. "Now I _really_ hope that she does throw you again," he said, grimacing at the cheerful aura that seemed to be emitting from Cedric.

Ignoring Dante's obvious displeasure, Cedric grinned and threw his arm over his friend's shoulders. "What are you even doing out here this late? It's nearly midnight you know." The green haired bandit sighed loudly and over-dramatically. "I wished Ada and I would have finished our quest earlier. It's such a nice night for a date, isn't it?" Cedric then snickered and narrowed his eyes as he looked at Dante's face. "Did you happen to go out with Alice today?" he asked, a sly expression beginning to form.

"W-What are you talking about?" Dante grumbled, unintentionally showing Cedric how flustered he was by the question.

"You don't need to hide it Dante! It's written all over your face." He laughed when he saw Dante starting to blush. "So then...tell me..." Cedric brought his voice down to a low whisper. "Did you get to _third base_ yet?"

Dante shot Cedric an annoyed glance and muttered, "you're disgusting," while his blush intensified at what his friend was implying.

"You know you'll need to go that far someday!"

"You're an idiot."

Cedric laughed again and tightened his hold around Dante. "How about you and I go to a tavern? Hm?"

"What for...?"

"I don't feel like going back to the barracks yet! Besides, I want to unwind from the work that Athena's giving me!"

The archer glanced at his friend and then finally muttered lowly, "fine. But don't force me to drink with you. I'm not in the mood for any alcohol..."

* * *

There was a light, fluttering feeling inside of her that left her feeling all giddy. Alice had this feeling since she came back home from her outing with Dante.

She smiled as she laid there in her bed. Finally she let out a soft giggle and pulled the fluffy white bedsheets over her head. The prospect of getting any sleep seemed impossible to her. She was much too overwhelmed with joy and much too jumpy to let herself rest.

Slowly, she brought her hands up to her arms and gently hugged herself. A soft blush began to form on her cheeks as she remembered how it felt being hugged by him. She felt as if she could still feel his strong, muscular arms wrapped around her as she laid there. Alice closed her eyes and found herself somewhat wishing that Dante was there beside her, really hugging her.

Alice opened her mouth just slightly and whispered out, "Dan...te..." His name felt just right on her tongue as she said it. Realizing that she had just thought of this, Alice felt a heavy blush upon her face and she promptly hid her face in her pillow even though she knew that no one was there to see it.

_"What's wrong with me?" _she thought to herself. Slowly, Alice brought her hand up to her chest and felt her heart thumping away inside of her. She felt slightly ashamed that she was acting like this. Deep in her mind, a small little voice told her that she could be wasting her time with this _nonsense._

_"No...I'm not." _Alice ducked further into her bedsheets and muttered, "Dante...Dante cares about me...I think..." She trailed off at the end. "Maybe...in his own, weird, stupid way," she managed to grumble in the end. A little sigh escaped her and she shook her head. "I don't know..." She already knew that a large part of her secretly wished that she and Dante could be something "more," but then again, another part of her said that it was nothing, but a mere pipe dream.

Sure Dante's been nicer to her recently, but she couldn't tell if that meant that he liked her enough for it to be considered love. She slowly began to remember her one-sided feelings towards Xin a while back and her confession to him.

A small, stabbing pain went through her chest as she remembered how disappointed and embarrassed she was when he told her that he had absolutely no romantic feelings for her. Alice knew that she didn't want to go through anything like that ever again. She decided at that moment that she would never...

"Alice?"

The blue haired girl slowly got up from bed when she heard Minna's voice. She saw the door to her bedroom ajar and Minna standing there, looking worried. "What happened Minna? What's wrong?"

"I-It's Ivan." The cleric lowered her head and clutched at the soft fabric of her nightgown. "He hasn't come back since last night."

"I thought he did?"

"He only came back to drop off the leeks! A-After that...I-I really don't know!" Minna sounded desperate and scared as she started to break down in tears. "He must've left when I wasn't paying attention!"

Alice got out of her bed and walked over to the orange haired girl. "He might have just stepped out," she said softly, hoping that she could try and calm Minna down.

Minna shook her head and held her hands up to her face, trying to catch her tears before they fell from her face. "H-His weapons are gone a-an-and his coat and h-hat..." The cleric allowed Alice to bring her into a gentle hug. "He would have told me if he left!" Minna cried softly into Alice's shoulder.

"I'm sure he's fine Minna." Alice pulled the small cleric away gently and smiled. "He's probably in town somewhere. Want to go out and find him?"

Minna widened her teary, wine red eyes and nodded. She smiled and giggled as she wiped away her tears. "Thank you Alice!"

* * *

"Dante...didn't you say that you weren't going to drink?"

Cedric sighed when he saw his friend resting his head against the table, completely out of it. He glanced over at the six, empty glasses of beer that were beside the archer's head. "I told you. If you wanted to drink, you need to drink slower. You can't just chug these down like they're water."

Dante hiccuped in response and kept his head down on the table.

The green haired bandit set down his own glass of beer on the table and stood up. He walked over to Dante and picked up his arm. "Come on, Dante. Let's just get you back to your room." Cedric slung the archer's arm over his shoulders and managed to get him up on his feet. "You can walk, right?" Cedric asked before he moved.

Dante slowly nodded his head, keeping his head hung low.

"Good," Cedric said with a grin. He slowly led Dante out of the crowded, noisy tavern and out onto the streets. "Jeez...you really can't hold your own against alcohol, can you?"

"Shut up...I'm just fine," the black haired man murmured.

"Like hell you are." Cedric sighed at his friend's stubbornness. "If Ada sees something like this...then she's going to kill me."

"You're damn right about that!"

The bandit froze and slowly turned around to see the exact person that he was talking about. "A-Ada," he nervously stuttered out. He released his hold on Dante, allowing him to stand up on his own. "This isn't..."

"I can't believe you!" Ada walked up to him, obviously angered. "I went to your room a while ago and you weren't there! I didn't want to believe that you were in a place like this, but here you are!"

"Eh? Why were you at my room?" Cedric asked curiously, ignoring her rant.

The assassin felt her face grow a bright red. "I only wanted to see if you were badly injured or not! I don't want to be responsible for hurting my platoon leader!" Ada clicked her tongue in annoyance and turned around, hiding her face from Cedric. "You stupid, perverted bastard."

Cedric smiled broadly at her. He felt an unmeasurable amount of joy swell up inside of him and he couldn't help, but capture Ada with a tight hug from behind. "Ada! So you really do care about me!"

"Shut up! Get off of me, you stupid pervert! Do you want me to throw you again?"

As Ada struggled to pry him off, she looked around and noticed that Dante was gone. "Hey...where'd he go?"

"Hm?" Cedric looked around as well and his smile slowly faded away as he too, could no longer see Dante anywhere. "Oh no!" He immediately pulled himself away from Ada and turned around frantically. "Dante! Dante! Where did you go?" The bandit wailed as he frantically ran around. "I lost him! What do I do, Ada?" He cried as he clung onto the female assassin. "Dante's in no condition to be wandering around by himself!"

"How should I know?" Ada snapped out, shoving Cedric off of her. "You were originally supposed to be looking out for him!"

"But-!"

Ada sighed and shook her head. "Forget it, let's just look around. If we still can't find him, then he probably went back to his room."

* * *

"Did everything work out as planned?"

"The small group of bandits that Krylin sent are gone."

"Good, good. I suppose that she's trying to hinder the construction of our ships so that we may not get them finished in time for the invasion."

Ivan stared blankly at Athena, who before him in the council room. His clothes were covered in blood and a part of his face was as well. Seeing this, the elf sighed and handed him a small handkerchief. "Wipe yourself off a little bit before you go back. Minna might not take too well to how you look right now."

The blonde took the soft piece of cloth and stared at the intricate designs curiously.

"I'm sorry you had to respond to me on such short notice. We just got word of the bandits just last night."

Ivan silently wiped away the blood on his face as he listened to her.

"Never mind that," Athena muttered. She shook her head and looked up at him again, smiling gently. "Get back home, I'm sure that Minna would be quite worried about you."

Nodding, Ivan handed back Athena's handkerchief to her, which was stained with the dull red color of dried blood. However before he left, he asked Athena, "Minna will be safe...right?"

"I assure you. She will be safely taken to Ossyria on the ships. I'll make sure of it personally."

Silently, Ivan lowered his gaze and finally left the huge room. Once he heard the giant oak doors close behind him, he tilted his head up to look out the window. In his mind, he wondered if he really was making the right decision. Should he sacrifice happiness for Minna's safety?

Ivan walked out of the building and onto the streets. There was practically no one out at this time of night. The only closest signs of life that he saw were the flickering flames in the street lamp posts.

As he walked slowly towards Alice's house, he heard someone calling out his name in the distance.

"Ivan...! Ivan...! If you can hear me..."

He immediately recognized the voice to be Minna's. Knowing this, he ran off in the direction where he heard her voice.

"Ivan! Ivan!"

The gunslinger ran until he got to the farthest parts of Henesys; the areas that had very little people walking around even during the day. He slowed down as he approached the deserted street. As he got closer, he heard Minna's voice more clearly.

"Ivan!"

He silently walked out into the street and stopped when he saw Minna just a few feet away from him. Her back was turned to him and seeing as how she didn't turn around, he assumed that she didn't hear him.

"Minna..." he whispered. Ivan felt anxiety as he saw Minna turn around to face him.

The cleric stood there for a while in surprise. She didn't say anything to him and he didn't say anything to her. It was a mutual silence, however, it was soon broken as Minna ran up to him.

"Ivan!" she cried out, embracing him tightly. She buried her face in his chest and cried, "you're okay! You're really okay!"

"Sorry." Ivan slowly raised his arms up to her and returned her embrace.

Minna shook her head and looked up at him with a bright smile. "It's okay! I'm just glad that you're..." She saw a bit of dried blood that Ivan had on his neck. Minna raised her hand up to his neck and let her fingers gently touch the blood. "Wh-Why are you bleeding? Where did you go?"

The pirate carefully took her delicate hand and brought it up to his cheek. He gently kept her hand there and closed his eyes. It was all done as a slow and silent gesture. "Minna..." Ivan finally muttered. "Don't be mad."

"H-Huh?" The cleric felt her heart thump away at her chest when she saw Ivan move his head to the side just slightly so that she could feel him kiss her palm. "What...what are you doing? What do you mean?"

Ivan let his lips linger on her wrists as he continued to hold her hand up against his cheek. "I...I won't be with you during the invasion." He closed his eyes, suddenly feeling some sort of fear deep inside of him. A fear of how she would react to his statement.

"I really don't know what you're talking about, Ivan." Minna moved her fingers slightly, touching his smooth skin.

He reopened his eyes and let go of her hand. An emptiness filled him inside when he felt her warm hand slide off his cheek. Ivan lowered his emerald green eyes and muttered, "I joined the reserve army. I won't be on the ships that will go to Ossyria."

"...What?"

"I want Minna to be safe." Ivan met the cleric's soft gaze and whispered, "please don't get mad..."

There was a long, deep silence that filled the air around them. Minna stood there in shock of what she had just heard from him. Was he really staying behind? After the invasion, could she no longer see him again? Was there any hope of seeing him...at all?

"I-It's fine...Ivan," Minna stuttered out, hiding her face from him.

"Minna..."

The cleric laughed and when she looked up at him, Ivan felt a slight pain in his chest when he saw tears already rolling down her cheeks. "I'm just glad! I'm...happy...that you made such a decision by yourself!" Minna couldn't seem to control her voice as it wavered and cracked when more tears came spilling out of her eyes. "I...I understand why. And, I'm really grateful!" By now, Minna's voice was no longer happy or cheerful. She began to openly cry as she told him these things. "I'm really...happy..." Minna held her hands up to her eyes and simply cried, no longer being able to say anything about happiness.

She knew she was just lying to herself when she said everything. There was no way she was going to be happy knowing that she had left him behind. There was no way she was going to be happy knowing that she would never be able to see him again.

Ivan stood there, feeling a dark, gloomy feeling cloud up inside of him. He felt guilt inside of him as he watched Minna cry. It stabbed at his heart relentlessly. He felt powerless and helpless.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, pulling her into a tight hug.

Minna cried against him and clutched at the lapel of his coat. She knew that she shouldn't cry so much, but she knew that she couldn't stop. The thought of Ivan leaving was just an unbearable prospect to her. "I don't want you to leave...! I don't want to leave you behind!"

The blond pirate held her tighter, finding the pain inside of him growing. "I want to protect you, Minna."

She couldn't find anything to say in response to that. Minna knew he meant well. She absolutely knew that, so she knew that she couldn't fault him for making a decision like this. It would be wrong of her.

Ivan lowered his eyes and held her head against his chest. "I'm sorry, Minna," he said again. Gently he pulled her away just slightly and lifted her head by the chin. He looked into her round teary eyes and whispered, "Minna...I love you too."

Slowly, Ivan leaned down and captured Minna's lips in a soft, innocent kiss.

The cleric widened her eyes in surprise at this. However, when Ivan pulled away, Minna held him and brought him back down to kiss him again. When she felt him kiss her back, she felt as if her mind went into a pleasant euphoria. She couldn't think and frankly, she didn't want to. For a moment, she forgot about everything that had been said between them.

Minna clutched at him tightly, never wanting to let him go. She could feel that he was unsure about what to do, but she didn't mind. She knew they were both inexperienced after all.

* * *

**A/N **_I'm sorry if that was stupid. But yay, Ivan and Minna fluff. Sad fluff, but it's still fluff._

_Since this chapter's a "part 1," the next chapter will continue off after this kind of abruptly. The next chapter will probably be fairly long as there will be one last "happy" fluff piece with Dante and Alice before the final battle. _

_Read and review!  
_


	30. Dying Vows Pt 2

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths** _- 17 years old - Hermit_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

**Julia Everard - **_35 years old_

**Krylin - **_24 years old - Necromancer (Dark Cleric)_

**Timm Fleischer - **_42 years old - Marauder_

* * *

**Aegis**

**Chapter 30: Dying Vows (Part 2)**

Alice wandered the streets aimlessly. She wasn't sure if she should go back home and check to see if Minna had found Ivan.

The female warrior sighed lightly and looked up at the night sky, wondering what she should do. That's when she heard a loud noise from the alleyway just a few feet away from her. The loud clattering noise snapped her out of her thoughts and brought her attention back to her surroundings.

"Is...is anyone there?" she asked, slowly stepping towards the alley. When Alice got a look down the alley, she couldn't make out anything in the darkness. Once again, she stepped forward and repeated her question. In the silence, she could make out a soft groan.

Hearing this, Alice walked into the alleyway, quickly, but cautiously. As she slipped past the rows of trash cans and bags, Alice finally saw someone slumped against the wall. "Are you okay?" she asked frantically, running up and kneeling down next to the man. When Alice managed to sit him up properly, she found that it was much too dark to see his face. "I'll take you to the infirmary, okay?" Just as she took hold of his arm, she heard him speak.

"Alice...?"

Alice widened her blue eyes at the familiar voice. "Dante? ...What are you doing here, especially at this time of night?"

"I could ask...the same for you," he said with a low chuckle.

The warrior thought his speech sounded slightly slurred. When she heard him hiccup softly, she raised an eyebrow. "Have you been...drinking?"

When Dante didn't answer her, Alice sighed and gently pulled at his arm. "You should go back to your room. It's dangerous to be out here in your condition."

"I think it's dangerous for you to be out as well," Dante slurred out, slowly getting up to his feet with Alice's help.

Alice slung his arm over her shoulders and carefully guided him out of the alleyway. "I can take care of myself, you know," she mumbled. When Dante laughed again, she could smell the heavy stench of alcohol clinging to him. "Why did you drink so much?"

"I don't know...lost count," he muttered incoherently. Dante hung his head as Alice helped him towards the barracks.

They didn't say a word to each other until they reached Dante's room.

"Make sure you get plenty of rest, okay?" Alice said as she opened up the door. She assumed that Dante said 'yes' when all she could hear was a low mumble from him. At this, Alice sighed. "Didn't you learn from last time that you can't handle alcohol that well?"

She managed to walk him over to his bed and deposit him on top of it. When saw his face, she widened her eyes at how flushed his cheeks looked. "Dante...? You look sick..." Gently, Alice leaned down and placed her hand on his forehead.

Dante shook his head and sat himself up. He breathed rather heavily as he tugged at the collar of his black dress shirt. "It's hot..." he whispered as his fingers clumsily tried to unbutton his shirt.

Alice immediately blushed at what he was doing and quickly stopped him. "D-Don't do that, stupid Dante! It's not that hot!"

"I want to go outside...it's cooler."

"You can't go outside!"

The archer managed to unbutton part of his shirt, even with Alice trying to stop him by holding his wrists. "It's too hot in here," he slurred out again.

Alice took her hands away from him and blushed heavily when he slipped his shirt off his body. She quickly turned away, embarrassed that she was about to simply gawk at him. To this, Dante tilted his head slightly in confusion.

"What's wrong?" he asked her softly.

"I-It's nothing! Get some rest, o-okay?" Before Alice could leave however, she heard Dante get up from the bed and felt his warm hand grab hers. In no time, she was pulled back and found herself in Dante's arms.

"Don't leave me," he whispered, burying his face in her neck.

"I...-"

"Cedric told me...that drinking can make you happier," Dante suddenly said. He held her tightly, tangling his fingers in her soft blue hair.

Alice felt her heart hammer away at her chest. She felt pleasant sparks of electricity run up and down her body. Earlier, she had wanted to be embraced by him and now, here she was, her silent wish fulfilled. "...Are you sad, Dante?" she asked in response to his statement.

"I can't tell you, Alice."

"Eh? What do you mean...?"

Dante didn't give her answer. Instead, he only tightened his hold around her. "Stay here."

"Wha-?"

"Stay here with me tonight. I don't want you to go."

Alice trembled in his arms. She found herself unable to refuse him, especially when his voice sounded that gentle and soft. Her hands moved up to his arms as she spoke. "I...I won't leave then," she stammered out nervously. Just as those words left her lips, she felt Dante turn around so that she was the one closest to the bed. When she saw him gently ease her down, Alice widened her eyes. "Dante...? What are you doing?"

He didn't say anything to her as he placed his hands on either side of her head. Alice shivered as she looked up into his fierce red eyes. "Dan...te?"

Much to her surprise, he leaned down and started to gently nuzzle her cheek and neck. "I'm sorry, Alice," he whispered.

Alice smelled the faint scent of alcohol as he spoke. Strangely, she didn't find it unpleasant, much like the time before when Dante was drunk. She blushed as he nuzzled her neck. "Why are you sorry?"

"Because...I won't be able to keep my promise."

"Eh?" Her blue eyes widened slightly in curiosity. "P-Promise? What are you talking about?" She felt Dante stop his affectionate gesture and bring himself back up to look at her. "Dante...what do you mean...?" Alice felt anxiety inside of her as she awaited his response. A strange feeling started to make its way up her throat. Why did she feel like she wasn't going to like his answer?

Alice watched as Dante finally smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. He looked pained and somewhat remorseful; his smile reflected that.

She felt him raise his hand off from the bed and gently trace her jaw line with his knuckles. When his hand got to her chin, she felt him cup it. "Dante?" she asked, her voice slightly trembling and shy. Alice flinched when she felt his thumb run over her lips. A little sound escaped her when he moved his hand to the side of her face, cradling it.

Dante smiled sadly again as he whispered one word to her.

"Sorry."

Her mind went into a blank when she felt his lips over hers. His lips tasted somewhat bitter, which she assumed it to be from the alcohol. Alice widened her eyes, wondering if this was a dream. Perhaps she would wake up soon in her own bed if she closed her eyes and reopened them.

Dante deepened the kiss and Alice blushed harder. She whimpered from his sudden show of affection, finding it somewhat overwhelming. Nevertheless, when she felt him pull away just slightly, she found a small part of her already missing the warmth of his lips upon hers.

Alice looked up at the male archer through half-lidded eyes. A lovely little blush lingered on her cheeks as she parted her lips just slightly to control her breathing. Was this really a dream?

"I love you...Alice."

His smooth, velvety voice echoed in her head as she felt him kiss her again. Alice felt her fingers give a slight twitch as she slowly began to process the information. She suddenly felt a surge of bliss rush through her body when she finally realized what was happening. _"Dante...likes me? Me?" _she thought as her eyes slowly drew to a close. Her hands rose up to his broad shoulders, where she rested them there for a while. Then her hands made their way up to his head, where she ran her fingers through his long black hair. She felt him lower himself and kiss her fully when she gently cupped the back of his neck.

Alice closed her eyes completely and enjoyed this strange, new sensation running through her body. _"Is this how love feels?" _

Just as Dante pulled away, he collapsed on the bed beside her and take her into his arms again.

"Dante...?" she asked softly, a bit confused as to how abruptly he stopped.

When Alice only heard nothing, but silence, she looked up at him and saw that he was already fast asleep. She smiled and cuddled up against his chest, relishing his warmth.

It was a different type of feeling that she felt with Dante than she did with Xin. She couldn't quite explain it...

Alice lay there, listening to Dante's light breathing. She turned her head slightly and placed her ear against his bare chest. When she closed her eyes and listened, she could hear the low thumping sounds of his heart. A little smile painted itself upon her face as she let his heartbeat soothe her to sleep.

But she did know that with Dante, she felt the need to understand and protect him. She had a strange sort of respect for him that she knew she never had with anyone else. She didn't know how to explain the feeling she got whenever Dante did something nice for her or if he just said something remotely kind towards her.

Defeated over thinking too much about it, Alice sighed and allowed herself to fall asleep. She smiled when she felt Dante's arms around her, knowing that just a few hours ago, she was wishing for something like this to happen.

* * *

"Apparently, three of the evacuation ships are ready for use."

"Good and how many more need to be built?" Athena asked the middle-aged platoon leader that stood before her.

The man cleared his throat and adjusted the thin-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose. He read off the scroll that contained information about the evacuation ships and their current state. "It seem as thought ten more of the ships need to be built."

Athena sighed and furrowed her brow in deep thought and worry. "No...that's not good. If it took several weeks to complete constructing three ships, there's no way that we will be able to construct ten in just under three weeks." She paused for a bit before proposing a new idea. "Maximize the passenger numbers for each of the ships."

"Miss Athena...that's rather dangerous. For one, there's a passenger limit for each ship for a reason. It's for mid-flight dangers. People may be prone to falling off if it's too crowded."

"We have to take our chances. By the looks of things, we'll only be having five ships by the time of the invasion."

The platoon leader seemed rather apprehensive at carrying out this order, but in the end, he complied with her. He bowed slightly and said, "I'll be sure to inform each of the ship captains to allow more passengers onto the ships."

"Thank you, Alaric."

* * *

A thin ray of light came into the room through the small gap in between the short white curtains. The small room, however, remained dim.

Alice slowly opened up her eyes and blinked away the sleep. It took her a while to come to her senses and to remember what had happened last night. Still in a groggy, sleep-induced daze, Alice turned her head and looked around the room.

_"So...it wasn't a dream." _Alice brought her hands out from under the bed sheets and brushed her fingertips against her lips. A soft blush made its way onto her cheeks as she remembered how Dante had kissed her and how she fell asleep in his arms. She then came to finally realize that he wasn't there with her.

_"Did he already wake up?" _

She reached out to touch the side of the bed and found that it was cold, indicating that he had been gone for a while now. Alice lowered her eyes and smiled when she saw the bed sheets that were over her body. She assumed that Dante had tucked her in before he had left, since she knew that she had fallen asleep without the sheets earlier. With this knowledge, she couldn't help, but let out a soft giggle.

_"Dante said he likes me. Me!" _

Alice turned herself over in the bed so that she was lying on her stomach. She buried her face into the pillow and felt a pleasant wave pass through her body as she caught the soft, singed scent of wood. It relaxed her as she held the pillow tightly. "Dante..." she whispered, blushing heavily. A surge of pure bliss washed over her as Dante's words from last night echoed inside of her head.

_"I love you...Alice." _

Feeling his words give her a burst of energy, Alice got up from bed and put on a broad smile. That smile quickly faded when she realized that she was still in her pajamas and she had no other clothes to change into. She didn't think too much about this last night when she and Minna began their search for Ivan. It was dark and Alice just assumed that no one would be out to see her in her plain orange mushroom t-shirt and shorts. Now sitting in Dante's bed, she had come to quickly regret her decision.

Seeing as how she had no other choice, but to quickly make her way home and hope to the goddesses that no one sees her clothes as pajamas, Alice got out of the bed and slipped her feet into the sandals that were beside the bed.

She got a bit curious when she spotted a clean white dress shirt along with a pair of old jeans folded up neatly and placed upon the small desk that was in the room. Alice walked over to it and saw a simple note on top of it that read: _Wear these._

Alice couldn't help, but laugh at how blunt the note was written. "Stupid," she said as she started to change into the clothes Dante put out for her.

Once she was done, she assumed that the pants she was wearing was quite old since it wasn't that long. The same went for the dress shirt. Alice sighed as she slowly buttoned up the shirt. She liked how loose and comfy they felt, but she found herself liking the idea that these were Dante's clothes even more. Alice scooped up her pajamas in her arms and silently left the room.

Just as she opened up the door, she was startled when she saw Cedric there, raising a loose fist as if he was just about to knock.

"Oh! Alice!" he exclaimed, smiling. He widened his bright green eyes curiously when he stepped back to check the room number on the side.

"Is something wrong?" Alice asked, wondering what he was doing.

"Sorry, sorry! This is...Dante's room right?"

The blue haired girl nodded.

Cedric laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "I thought I was mistaken because you were here..." he trailed off and suddenly exclaimed loudly, "Alice! What are you doing here?"

Taken aback by Cedric's spontaneity, Alice nervously stuttered out, "I-I found him last night in an alleyway. He didn't look too good so-so I br-brought him here. I guess I fell asleep in his room without realize it!"

The bandit stared at her for a while before flashing a sly smile at her. "So you spent the night with him...in his own bed...with the two of you alone?"

Alice, not knowing what Cedric was trying to imply, nodded her head again.

Cedric tapped his chin in thought. "Hmm, you two were awfully quiet though...and I was just next door. I would have heard _something_."

"Eh?"

"I suppose Dante wouldn't have been _too rough_ with you, right Alice?" Cedric said with a light laugh as he rubbed the top of her head. "Even though it looks like he'll ravage his prey brutally-"

"Prey...?" Alice asked, still very much confused as to what he was saying.

"Oh well, I guess Dante's just a gentleman at heart," the bandit said with a shrug, ignoring Alice's questions. "But be careful Alice, Dante might have been gentle with you last night, but next time, I just know that he'll be so rough with you, you'll get bruises all over your-"

In a blink of an eye, a flying projectile hit Cedric on his head hard, causing him to fall over. Alice held her clothes tightly to her chest as she stepped back, shocked at what happened.

"Quit being such a creep, Cedric."

Alice recognized the low voice to be Dante's. She felt her heart flutter around inside of her chest when she saw the raven haired archer walk up to them.

Cedric sat up and rubbed his head, messing up the black Pilfer bandanna he wore on his head. "That hurt, Dante!" he whined, picking up the potion pouch that Dante had thrown at him.

"It was meant to," Dante said in an annoyed tone as he snatched the pouch away from his friend.

"Why was it so heavy?" Cedric shot out.

"I just restocked on a few potions."

Taking the black Pilfer off of his head, Cedric rubbed his head again. He pouted and grumbled something under his breath that neither of them could hear. Dante ignored this and took Alice by the wrist.

"Eh? Dante?"

"Ah, wait! Dante! Where are you going?" Cedric called out after him.

"I'm getting my idiot martyr away from you."

"But why?"

Dante turned his head and shouted, "because you corrupt everyone that you talk to!"

"No, I don't!"

Alice turned back and yelled down the hall, "I'm sorry, Cedric!"

The green haired man simply waved his hand tiredly, silently telling her that it was fine.

When Alice turned back to Dante, she urged him to slow down as they quickly left the barracks. "Dante!" she said, trying her best not to stumble or fall. "Slow down!" Unfortunately for her, Dante didn't stop until they were a good distance away from the main part of Henesys. When they were in the outskirts of the town, near the edge of the forest, Dante stopped and let go of her.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"You could have slowed down!"

"No, not that."

"Huh?" Alice saw him turn around and seem rather apologetic. He had his red eyes down-turned to the ground, really seeming as though he had done something wrong. "What are you talking about?"

"I...I didn't do anything to your last night, did I?"

Blinking her wide blue eyes, Alice slowly began to understand what he meant. He really couldn't have...

"Y-You don't...remember?" she asked him. Alice felt a slight sinking feeling inside of her when she saw a confused expression upon his face.

Dante groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I shouldn't have followed Cedric to the tavern last night. I...I can't remember anything from the time I left the tavern until this morning." He looked at her and muttered, "when I saw you this morning...I thought I did something last night..."

Alice felt a mixture of sheer disappointment and sadness fill her up when she came to the realization that he didn't remember anything that he said last night. The way he had held her, the way that he had told her 'I love you'...

"You...didn't do anything to me," the warrior squeaked out. She found that she couldn't control her voice that well because of the tears that were now threatening to blur her vision. "I uhm, I just fell asleep on your bed after I helped you to your room."

"Oh..."

_"Don't cry...don't cry..."_ Alice let out an unintentional gasp when she felt the first tear slide down her cheek. She quickly brought her hand up to her face and wiped it away, but another one soon followed it.

"Alice...?"

Bunching up her fists, Alice turned around and wordlessly, started to run away from him. _"Stupid! You were the only one that was so happy about it! He probably didn't mean any of it if he can't even remember!" _

"Alice!" Dante grabbed her arm and turned her around. He widened his eyes in surprise when he saw her sapphire blue eyes filled with shimmering tears. "Alice...why are you-?"

"Just leave me alone!" she cried out, trying to release herself from his hold.

"You idiot, if I didn't do anything to you, why are you acting like this all of a sudden?" Dante felt her push him away, causing him to release her.

"Don't...don't talk to me anymore!" Alice shouted, letting her tears run freely down her cheeks. She then fled before she came to regret what she said to him. As of right now, Alice felt nothing, but anger and frustration over what had happened. She knew it wasn't his fault...but it hurt her to know that he didn't remember anything he said to her last night. Who else could she have gotten mad at?

* * *

Dante stood there silently. He didn't move until he couldn't see Alice any more.

Guilt tore at him inside out as the image of her tear soaked face remained in his head. He tilted his head back and saw some low, gray clouds move in, covering the bright blue sky. In the distance, he could also hear the low rumble of thunder.

He knew that it would have happened and he knew that it needed to be done. Dante sought to distance himself from Alice and that was his only goal before the invasion. From the looks of things, he had succeeded. However, he felt rotten about the whole thing.

He was fully aware of what had happened last night between him and Alice. He knew what he did to her and he knew what he had said to her.

Dante raised his hand to his lips and kept them there for a while. He could still feel the softness of her lips upon his and the way that she had reacted to his kiss only served to make him somewhat happy. However, that small amount of happiness quickly faded when he reminded himself that there was no, and there will never be a future with him and Alice.

No matter how much he desired it.

"I'm sorry, Alice..."

The first droplets of rain fell to the earth. The light sprinkle quickly turned into rain that came down in heavy sheets. Despite the fact that he was now soaking wet, Dante stood there, unable to move. His black hair clung to the back of his neck and face from the rain as he tilted his head back once more to look up at the sky.

_"It's better this way..." _

Dante clenched his fists, frustrated by everything that was happening. The war, the coming invasion, Krylin's hold around him, the Aegis...everything. He wanted nothing more then for everything to simply disappear. Perhaps then...

_"Then..." _

He closed his eyes and whispered under his breath, almost inaudibly, "you'll smile, Alice." A gentle, broken smile made its way across his face.

_"I want you to be happy...even when it's not because of me." _

* * *

"Alice...? Are you okay?" Minna worriedly leaned her head against the door to Alice's room. She knocked again and asked, "are you sick?" When Minna didn't hear anything, she stepped back from the door and silently made her way downstairs. She sat back down on the couch she was sitting in before Alice came bursting into the house earlier. Minna barely saw her face, but she could tell that Alice was crying.

She looked up at the opposite couch, where Ivan lay, sleeping. The bundle of sheets moved as he shifted to sleep in a different position. Ivan had been sleeping for quite a long time now, which was understandable to Minna since he hadn't gotten a chance to sleep for nearly two days.

Once he had stopped moving, Minna looked back down at the low coffee table in between the two couches and whispered, "Alice...what happened?"

* * *

"Jeez...where did he go?" Cedric grumbled as he made his way around Henesys. He held the dark blue umbrella tightly when a strong wind began to pick up. The storm was getting worse and it worried the bandit when he saw that his friend hadn't come back to his room yet. "He better not be out in this storm with Alice as well...he-" The green haired man stopped talking when he looked up and finally spotted Dante standing there in the middle of the street.

"Dante!" he called out, running up to him. Cedric found it odd that Dante hadn't even reacted to the sound of his name, but he didn't think too much of it as he approached his friend. "Dante! Jeez, what the hell are you doing out here? It's cold and windy! You'll get sick you know! And where's Alice? You had better had sent her home."

When Dante still didn't move, Cedric leaned forward and looked up at his face. "Dante? Why aren't you-?"

The dark blue umbrella fell to the rain soaked ground.

Cedric widened his eyes as it took some time for him to realize what had happened. His green eyes slowly looked down at his stomach and saw his own Varkit dagger embedded deep inside of him. He looked back up at Dante and saw his red eyes fogged over. "Dan...te..." Cedric slowly fell to his knees, holding his hand on his stomach. His palm quickly became covered in blood as he pulled away his hand to look at it.

He didn't even know how Dante had managed to grab the dagger that was strapped to his waist and stab him with it, all so quickly. Cedric grunted as the pain slowly spread through his body. He struggled to lift his head up. "Who are you?"

Dante stared at Cedric with dull, emotionless eyes. The hand that he used to stab Cedric was also covered in blood, which was starting to wash away because of the rain.

"Don't interfere."

Cedric felt his vision going blurry as he was slipping in and out of consciousness. He fell on his elbows as he struggled to stop Dante from walking away. "Wait!" He fell to the ground, coughing up blood. A pool of blood began to form around Cedric as he lay there. "Wait..." he breathed out, his vision growing darker. Cedric watched Dante as he walked away. "Come back..." The bandit panted as he tried to use his other arm to crawl towards the bowman, even though he could no longer see Dante.

Feeling the life drain out of him, Cedric collapsed on the ground completely. He slowly closed his eyes as he lay there in the freezing rain. Before he slipped into unconsciousness, he whispered out weakly, "Krylin...you bitch."

* * *

**A/N **_THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER _

_Sorry, it seems as though I have miscalculated. I was actually going to make this chapter the last one by making it a HUGE wall of text. But I figured that this was a good place to end this chapter. I promise you, NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE THE LAST ONE with the big battle. _

_This chapter and the previous chapter can be considered "one chapter" since they're part 1 and part 2. That's why they're kinda short individually._

_Read and review, please! I would love to see how many people are actually interested in the sequel for Aegis, which will probably be posted near mid-June to early July. :]  
_


	31. Surrender

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths** _- 17 years old - Hermit_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Gunslinger_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

**Julia Everard - **_35 years old_

**Krylin - **_24 years old - Necromancer (Dark Cleric)_

**Timm Fleischer - **_42 years old - Marauder_

* * *

**Aegis**

**Chapter 31: Surrender  
**

It had already been two weeks since Alice had last spoken to Dante.

In order to avoid him to the best of her abilities, Alice chose to stay home for most of the time. Only rarely would she go outside (upon the urgings of Minna). The rest of the time however, Alice found solace in locking herself up in her room and taking care of her pet husky.

"Alice!" Minna's muffled voice called out from outside her room. "The blacksmith sent you a letter! He said that your weapon is all fixed!" The cleric stood there in front of the door patiently until her friend opened up the door. When Minna saw Alice, she worriedly commented as he handed over the letter, "you should really eat some more Alice. You look really sick." Minna raised her hand and gently placed it on Alice's forehead.

"I-I'm fine!" the warrior exclaimed, unintentionally swatting Minna's hand away from her. "I...just haven't had much of an appetite. That's all."

"Should I make you something for dinner? Something you like?"

Alice shook her head and insisted once again that she was okay. However, Minna didn't believe her one bit.

"Mm, you liked my spinach casserole, right? I'll make you that for dinner, okay?" Minna smiled when she saw Alice nodding slightly. She could tell that something was still bothering Alice, but she chose not to question her or nag her about it. Alice seemed as though she wasn't going to tell her anyways. "Well then, you should go get your weapon!"

"R-Right," Alice stuttered out. She flashed Minna a weak smile as she brushed past her. "I'll be going then," she mumbled before she descended down the stairs.

Once Minna heard the soft click of the front door closing, she sighed and held her hands together tightly.

"Why are you so sad, Alice?"

* * *

"There we go!"

Alice took her Eviscerator from the huge, burly blacksmith. She smiled at him as she took it from his rugged hands. "Thank you," she said with a slight bow. "How much was it for the repair?"

"No need to pay me, little lady. Miss Athena already paid for the repairs," he said with a broad grin.

"Ah, okay then."

Alice focused her attention on the polearm in her hands. She found that the steel weapon was much shinier and it had a certain luster when she turned it so that the light hit it just right. She stared at it for a while before she took a look around the blacksmith's shop. She let her eyes scan over the various weapons that people had brought in. Daggers, swords, wands, knuckles, crossbows, she thought she saw almost every kind of weapon in there.

As she thanked the blacksmith for his work, her eyes rested on a familiar black bow that was laid out on one of the long tables in the shop.

The blacksmith noticed her staring at it. "A beautiful thing, isn't she?"

"Eh?"

He walked over to it, his heavy work boots surprisingly making very little sound against the ground. The blacksmith carefully picked up the Dark Arund and showed it off. "It was really badly damaged when the recovery team brought it in. Luckily, I managed to repair it _and_ reinforce the entire thing, so now it's stronger than ever!" He laughed, apparently proud of the work he had done with the bow. "The owner of this bow is your platoon leader, isn't he?"

Alice flinched involuntarily, but she nodded in response to his question.

"You should tell him to come pick it up then. I've had it finished for a week now. Hm, maybe I should send another notice to him." The tan blacksmith rubbed the top of his balding head. "Or could _you_ tell him to come pick it up? He isn't too busy to meet with you, his martyr, right?"

"U-Uhm...o-of course he isn't." Alice gave him a forced smile. She tried her best not to show her discomfort as she quickly said, "I-I'll be sure to tell him." Without waiting for a reply from the blacksmith, Alice ran out of the shop. She didn't know why she felt the need to get out of there so quickly. It did occur to her that perhaps she grew uncomfortable with the blacksmith continuously bringing up Dante.

After running for a while, she stopped to catch her breath.

_"I don't even know where he is now..."_

* * *

"We were lucky to have such a skilled bishop in town when we found him. I don't think he would have made it if he wasn't healed in time."

Ada clenched her fists and watched with great anguish as a cleric continued to heal Cedric. She couldn't bear seeing him in the condition he was in.

Cedric was lying upon the infirmary bed. He had dark circles underneath his eyes and his chest barely rose whenever he inhaled. To Ada, it almost seemed as though he really was dead. This seemed so foreign to her since he wasn't his usual energetic self. Hesitantly, she walked forward and stood beside the cleric, who took his hands away from Cedric's still healing wound.

"I'll need to heal him again later today. His condition isn't quite stable still."

Ada didn't say anything as the cleric left the room. She kept her eyes on Cedric, who was still unconscious. Her eyes trailed down his body and rested on his waist, which was wrapped up in layers of bandages.

"You stupid...bastard," she whispered out under her breath. She clenched her teeth and slowly placed her hand on top of his. "You better not die on me."

Her hand tightened around his and for a minute, everything was silent until a single tear fell from her eye and dropped onto her hand.

* * *

The surroundings were dark, with only a few torches lighting the way.

Athena heard her own footsteps echoing as she took delicate steps through the underground prison. She passed dozens of cells, but did not enter any of them. She already knew that the one she had to enter was the very last cell.

Once she got to it, she stared at the heavy, solid iron door for a while before she sighed and took the keys that hung on the wall opposite of the cell. Athena lowered her frost blue eyes and gently inserted the key into the keyhole. The lock clicked loudly when she turned the key.

Athena opened up the door and stepped into the cell quietly. Once she closed the heavy iron door behind her, she let her eyes rest upon the other person in the cell with her.

"How do you feel...Dante?"

The raven haired archer slowly raised his head to face her. His blank gaze seemed as though he was devoid of any noticeable emotions. "Nothing," he simply murmured, leaning back against the stone wall. As he leaned his head back against the wall, the chain that held a collar to his neck rattled against each other.

"Dante," Athena started, "you know that we had no other choice."

"I know," Dante muttered. He kept his head turned away from her. "I know this is for the best. Krylin hasn't come back since that time, but I'm sure that the second you release me, she'll come again."

The elven archer lowered her head and closed her eyes. "We were lucky to have found you before she did anymore harm while she was controlling you."

Dante slowly moved his arms and heard the chains rattling once more. He stared down at the cuffs around both of his wrists and whispered, "is Cedric okay...?"

"He's fine. A bishop was able to heal him, but he's still unconscious."

"I see..." He smiled a little bit, knowing that his friend was going to be okay.

"You can't remember anything from that incident?" Athena asked him, lacing her fingers together behind her back.

"If I could, then I would have been aware of what I was doing at that time. Maybe then...I could have done something to prevent it."

Athena sensed a bit of remorse in Dante's voice as he spoke. "Dante...you can't blame yourself for what happened to Cedric. What happened, happened. You shouldn't reflect back on it so much. What matters is that Cedric is still alive."

Dante clenched his fists tightly. "That doesn't matter!" he suddenly lashed out, surprising Athena. "If I was stronger...if...I was stronger..." Defeated by his own thoughts, Dante slumped up against the wall, hanging his head.

"You are already strong enough, Dante."

"No," Dante whispered, shaking his head slightly. "Krylin told me that she chose me specifically because my soul was weak. She told me that mentally, I had given up."

"And do you feel like you've given up?" Athena watched as Dante remained silent and still. After a long period of silence, Athena turned around and opened up the door to the cell. Before she left however, she stood there in the doorway and told him, "once the time for the invasion comes, we will set you free to join the rest of the reserve army. Hopefully, you'll feel more mentally prepared for it than you are now."

He raised his head slowly and looked at her through his black bangs.

"And Dante..." The female archer looked back at him. Her face seemed solemn. "Your parents...Alec and Cecilia...were some of the best platoon leaders the Aegis has ever had. They died honorably. I just thought that you should know before the invasion."

"Then why aren't there any records of them?"

Athena lowered her eyes away from him for a second before turning around to leave. "I can't answer that, Dante."

Dante tried to stand up, but the chains that bound his neck held him down. "Why can't you?"

"Because...quite frankly, I'm not sure myself. It's as if someone physically went through our archives and destroyed their records..."

* * *

Another series of gunshots rang through the training grounds.

Ivan parted his lips just slightly to keep his breathing in check. Sweat covered his forehead and dampened the ends of his blond bangs. He brought his free hand up to wipe the sweat away. As he did so, he tightly held his Concerto gun in his other hand. The golden gun made a little noise as he held it up to one of the many crude target boards that surrounded him.

Before he could fire off the gun again, his index finger tightly squeezed the trigger, but failed to press down completely. He was tired and he knew it quite well. He had been training for 6 hours straight after all.

"Ivan?"

He turned around at the sweet voice. Instantly, he felt at rest when he saw Minna walking up to him. A gentle smile was on her face which made his heart jump just at the sight of it.

"I thought you'd be hungry, so I made you this!" Minna exclaimed, holding up a small lunch box that had been wrapped in a cute little handkerchief. "It's already lunch time and I'm sure you didn't eat breakfast, right?"

Ivan felt his cheeks flush with blood in embarrassment. He turned away slightly and nodded, which made Minna giggle at how adorable he looked.

He and Minna sat down on a stump that was in the middle of the training area. She handed him the lunch box and said, "I didn't put any sweets in there, but I made you some other foods that I knew you liked!" Nervously, Minna played with her hands. "T-The sweets...when you come back from training..."

"...I want to make them together."

"E-Eh?"

"The sweets," Ivan said as he took the small plastic fork that was on top of the food. "I want to make them together."

The cleric blushed slightly out of happiness. "Okay!"

Minna chose to forget about what Ivan told her a few weeks ago. She thought it would be for the best that she spends the remaining time she has left with him in happiness. She knew that she would only regret not spending the last few, precious moments she had with him just because she was sad.

"You're already finished?" she asked him when he placed the plastic fork inside the now empty lunch box.

Ivan nodded as he snapped the lid over it.

"You must have been really hungry!" Minna laughed as he blushed again. She took the lunch box from him and slowly stood up from the stump. "I'll be sure to make you a huge dinner when you get back, okay?"

The gunslinger looked up at her and felt his heart skip a beat when he saw her radiant smile.

"Well then...good luck on your training-!"

"Wait."

Minna felt him take hold of her wrist, stopping her from leaving. She turned to him curiously with widened red eyes. "Ivan? What's wrong?"

Ivan stood up and kept his emerald green eyes on her. Minna sensed a bit of hesitance around him as he muttered, "I...-"

"Hm?"

Almost immediately, Minna felt him give her a quick, soft kiss. She was shocked by the sudden action, but when she saw him pull away with an embarrassed look on his face, she couldn't help but to let out a giggle. "You don't need to ask me Ivan."

The pirate seemed a bit shy as he mumbled out, "I...I like how it feels."

Minna smiled and moved closer to him. Without saying anything, she leaned up and kissed him back. She let her lips linger upon his for a while before she pulled away. "I like how it feels too."

Ivan wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned down to give her another clumsy little peck. At this, Minna giggled. This went on for a while. Ivan only gave her small, innocent kisses and she would smile in response. It wasn't like he wanted this to change. It already felt nice to him.

* * *

"My troops and I have already safely escorted the first group of evacuees to the ships," Nackt stated to Athena. Her dark blue eyes seemed to glow slightly in the moonlit council room.

"Good. If we're lucky, that ship could come back in time before the invasion and we could get more people off to Ossyria faster."

Nackt kept her eyes on Athena, who was sitting in her seat at the long council table. The short, black haired mage sensed something was bothering Athena as she was rather fidgety. "Are you nervous about the invasion?" she inquired in her usual soothing voice.

The elf chuckled softly and slowly brought her hand up to her forehead. "Perhaps the word "nervous" is an understatement, your highness."

"I wish I could share that feeling. I feel as if I'm being insensitive because my kingdom is in Ossyria already."

"The danger that will fall upon Victoria Island won't be of much harm to you, will it?"

"I suppose...but that doesn't mean that my kingdom has not been affected by Krylin. This war has caused my own kingdom to shrink so dramatically." Nackt exhaled sharply and tightly held her golden Elemental staff. "I want this whole war to be over."

"As do I, your highness. But...we severely lack the troops and power to overthrow Krylin right now."

"I know. Sending in our troops to fight Krylin right now would just be suicide."

Athena stared at Nackt for a while before asking, "do you regret it?" She saw the short archmage flinch at her question, but she still managed to keep her composure.

"I ask that to myself _everyday_. Do I regret it? Of course I do, but at the same time, I wonder if I really could have killed Krylin before all this happened."

"I would assume it to be hard. You share the same blood after all."

"That won't stop me this time," Nackt blurted out. She felt a bit of anger swell up inside of her, anger that was directed towards herself. "Even though Krylin is my sister...I'll make sure I won't let that stop me from killing her."

* * *

"So...they're already starting their escape?" Krylin laughed softly. "How amusing..." She lowered her light purple eyes down to Fleischer, who was kneeling before her throne.

"Shall we stop them?" he asked her, raising his head.

"Leave them. I have no use for those pathetic little townspeople that the Aegis is trying so hard to protect." The necromancer giggled slightly as she raised a finger to her lips. She crossed her slim legs over one another and said, "I'm only interested in my new body. I hope you didn't rough it up too much."

"Perhaps I went a little bit overboard with the torture. He seemed nearly dead by the time I was through with him," he flashed Krylin a crooked grin.

"Oh?" Krylin tilted her head and leaned back in her throne. "He seemed to have recovered just fine." She giggled again and gave her finger a little lick. "Although...it would have been nice to get a hold of a female vessel...how could I resist the opportunity of letting such a perfect vessel escape through my fingers? Poor Dante...such a pity that you have such a weak soul."

Krylin waved her hand slightly and a purple cloud formed before her. Once the smoke cleared up, she could see Alice.

"It seems as though Dante played his part well. Too bad she can't see that his actions were meant with the best of intentions. Oh well...no matter. He just made my job a whole lot easier." Krylin smiled as she waved her hand again. The cloud swirled for a bit before showing Cedric this time, lying on the bed in the infirmary. "It seems as though Dante has no one left to rely on. He nearly kills his best friend...the one person that he considered _family_ is dead...and the one girl that he fell in love with will never love him from the fear of getting hurt again." She chuckled, fairly excited with how things were turning out in her favor. "It seems as though taking Dante's body won't be as hard as I thought. As long as the odds are in my favor of course..."

* * *

Alice could feel her hands aching and she was sure that there were going to be a few bruises on her hands, but she didn't care.

She let out another yell as she swung her polearm. The heavy blue weapon easily broke through a thick stone target. It crumbled before her as she breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath. Even though she was wearing gloves, the stinging pain from using her polearm so much could be felt on her palms.

"Alice?"

Alice turned around at the sound of the voice and widened her eyes slightly at who she saw. "X-Xin?"

The crusader gave her a little smile and asked, "can we talk?"

"U-Uhm," she stuttered before nodding her head hesitantly.

Xin laughed slightly and told her, "you can keep training if I'm being a bother."

"No, it's fine. I was about to stop anyways," Alice said with a little awkward laugh at the end. She continuously told herself to not to act weird around him. She didn't like him in _that way_ and she decided to put her failed confession to him behind her. However, she couldn't help, but let those thoughts still float around inside of her head.

"Are you nervous?"

"E-Eh?" Startled by his sudden question, Alice stuttered out, "N-Nervous about what?"

"About the invasion. Although we won't be fighting in it...it'll be really tense."

"Oh that..." The blue haired girl lowered her head and mumbled, "I don't really mind. I'm sure that once me and my brother arrive at Ossyria, my mom will make us live with her at Omega Sector."

"It's rather gloomy there compared to Henesys, isn't it?"

"Ah...I suppose it is," Alice said in a light tone. She managed to flash him a little smile after wards. "I'll get used to it eventually."

"But, won't you miss your friends? They won't be going with you to Omega Sector, right?"

Alice looked away and smiled rather sadly. She tightened her hand around her polearm and muttered, "I'll make time to meet them occasionally." When she turned to face Xin again, she gave a slight laugh and said, "I'll try to meet you as well, Xin! Don't worry!"

"What about the Aegis?" Xin asked. He watched Alice, waiting for an answer. When she simply remained silent, he asked, "...what about Dante?"

The sound of Dante's name made Alice flinch involuntarily. She tried not to show Xin that this distressed her. "I-I'm sure Dante will be fine by himself. When we first met he did tell me that he didn't want a martyr. I'm sure that, that's what he wants."

"Are you sure about that?"

Alice looked at Xin and saw a forlorn expression on his face. She looked at him curiously and asked, "why are you asking me this?" It only served to confuse her even further when all he did was close his eyes.

"So...he really didn't tell you..."

"Huh?"

Xin hesitated. He knew he shouldn't tell Alice what Dante told him a few weeks ago in the cemetery. The archer had asked of him to keep it a secret and he knew he had to. However, something inside of him wished to tell Alice everything. He thought it wasn't right for Alice not to know what Dante was about to put himself through.

"Alice...I don't know how to tell you this. Granted, it really isn't my place to say this." Xin grew silent after wards. He contemplated on what he should do.

"Xin...?"

"No...it isn't my place to say." The black haired crusader walked over to Alice, who was looking at him with great confusion. "Alice...you should go see Dante."

"Eh? I-I don't know," she muttered as she avoided his eyes. "I...can't."

"You need to hear this from Dante, not from me."

"Hear what?"

"Alice..." Xin started softly. He looked at her with a slightly concerned expression. His clear blue eyes flickered away from her as he continued to talk. "Dante's not a horrible person as you make him out to be. He might act mean towards you, but I know that deep down inside of him he really cares about you."

Alice didn't know what to say to that. She was left speechless, partly because of her sensitivity towards hearing Dante's name still. She was ashamed of what she had done to the archer before and now, she found that she could no longer listen to anything relating to him without being reminded of that event.

"Please go talk to him soon, okay?"

"Ah...u-uhm...s-sure. I'll try." She wasn't sure if that was the truth or a lie. Alice didn't want to face Dante...not yet.

* * *

"Ahh." Cedric let out a loud sigh. "Hospital food was so bad! Ada, next time you should cook something for me."

"Shut up, you shameless pervert," Ada grumbled back. She walked beside the bandit, escorting him back to the barracks. "You're lucky you managed to recover before the invasion."

"Ah? Invasion...?"

The assassin glared up at him and hit him on the head. "It's next week, you idiot! Shouldn't you know that since you're a platoon leader?"

"Ow!" Cedric held his head and protested, "I'm still in recovering Ada!" He pouted at her and widened his bright green eyes slightly to look somewhat helpless.

It seemed to work as Ada turned a slight pink in the cheeks and grumbled out, "whatever. Just make sure you get better. If you're still in pain by next week, it'll be a hassle to get you on the ships."

"I don't think I'll get better," Cedric whined, holding his stomach.

"Don't be ridiculous. You-" Ada stopped when she felt his hand on her shoulder.

"Unless my cute little Ada takes care of me while I'm still recovering."

Flinching at the sudden contact, Ada instinctively hit his hand away. "You stupid pervert. Like I have time for that," she mumbled, trying to hide her slight blush. "Just...just make sure you get plenty of rest. Maybe I'll...get some food for you later."

"Really? You mean it, Ada?" Cedric asked, his bright green eyes widening in happiness. He was much too excited about what she said, in her opinion.

Ada let out a growl of frustration and shoved him away by his face. "If you keep this up, I'll just ignore you all together." Deep inside, she felt herself feeling slightly pleased that he was that joyful because of her. However, Ada tried not to show him her true feelings, only because of the potential embarrassment she'd feel from her pride.

When they got into the barracks and started to head towards the second floor, both of them heard a soft knocking sound. They both saw who it was when they got to the top of the stairs.

"Alice? What are you doing here?" Ada asked, briskly walking over to her friend.

Alice seemed a bit startled to see her, but she quickly relaxed afterwards. "I'm just here to see Dante, but I don't think he's in his room."

Ada and Cedric looked at her in slight shock. "Athena didn't tell you, Alice?"

The warrior nervously flickered her eyes back and forth between the two thieves. She saw Cedric bow his head down slightly, looking a bit distressed. "Wh-What happened? Did something-?"

"You should go see Athena," Cedric quietly muttered.

Alice felt the atmosphere around them grow heavy. She saw how uneasy both of them looked. "What happened to Dante...? Where is he?" Her heart began to speed up in anxiety as the silence around her grew. "Why aren't you answering me?" she suddenly shouted. Alice felt deep frustration boil up inside of her. "Why is everyone keeping in the dark?...What's happened to him?"

The assassin skirted her gray eyes away from Alice. "Sorry, Alice..."

Before Ada had the chance to finish speaking, Alice turned sharply on her heels and ran away. She brushed past Ada, but she didn't stop to apologize. She was much too frustrated with how everyone was refusing to tell her the truth.

Cedric turned and watched Alice leave until she reached the stairs. When he could no longer see her, he faced Ada and looked down at her. "We should have told her. She's his martyr after all."

"You didn't even know yourself, until just a while ago," Ada responded, facing him. "Do you plan to forgive him?"

The bandit let his green hair fall over his eyes. "Of course. It wasn't _really_ Dante that stabbed me."

"Not that. Are you going to forgive him for joining the reserve army without telling you?"

Cedric sighed and slowly began to walk towards his room. His hand rested on the doorknob for a while before he answered, "I'm not even sure how I should be feeling right now."

* * *

Alice felt out of breath by the time she got to the front door of the council building. However, she didn't let this stop her as she hastily went inside.

The hallways seemed to never end as she ran towards the council room. The time that it usually took for her to get to the room seemed to be longer than usual.

_"Dante...what are you hiding from me?"_

As soon as Alice reached the council room, she threw open the heavy oak door. "Miss Athena!" she shouted.

There were five other people in the room with the elf. They all turned her heads to look at her. A few of them looked a bit disgusted. In other instances, Alice would have been embarrassed and she would have been apologizing by this time, but she was too caught up in the swirl of anger and confusion to care.

Athena calmly looked at Alice and watched her as she panted, trying to catch her breath. She raised her delicate hand up and waved it slightly. "We will discuss this matter later," she said to the group of people. As soon as those words left her mouth, she saw Alice striding up to her.

"Where's Dante?" she immediately asked the elf.

Athena remained silent until the oak doors closed. When she began to talk, she narrowed her eyes at Alice. "Alice, do you have any idea what you just interrupted? I was having a meeting with five platoon leaders about the invasion. As for Dante, you can be assured that he is safe."

"I want to know where he is!" Alice suddenly shouted. She kept a strong, angered glare on Athena for a while before she came to her senses. Slowly, her fists unclenched and her blue eyes softened up. Quietly, she backed away from the archer slightly and lowered her eyes. "I-I'm sorry, Miss Athena," she mumbled in an apologetic manner.

"Is something bothering you, Alice?" Athena asked in a soft, calm voice.

"...No one's telling me anything. I want to know what happened to Dante. I want to know where he is."

Athena nodded her head slightly and muttered out, "I see..." There was a period of silence before she spoke again. "Even if I tell you where he is...you can't go see him."

Alice stared at the elf with widened eyes. "Wh-Why not?"

"Dante's in the underground prisons. Even if you are his martyr, I can't let you go see him."

"Why is Dante there?"

Athena turned away from Alice and told her, "he injured Cedric very badly a week ago. He's deemed as dangerous and we can't let anyone go visit him while he's in his cell."

"Dante...hurt Cedric...?" Alice asked. "But Dante would never do that! He's-"

"Dante wasn't himself, I'm afraid. It seems as though his condition is getting worse."

"His condition?"

The archer faced Alice with a quizzical look on her face. "You don't know?" Athena saw Alice's deeply confused expression as the answer to her question. "Alice...Dante's been targeted by Krylin for a while now. According to Nackt, Krylin needs a host for her soul. A new body..."

"So then...Dante...?"

"It wasn't Dante who hurt Cedric. It was Krylin. There's no doubt about it."

Alice felt her mind going blank from the shock. Had everyone around her known this all along? Was this the truth that was hidden from her? "Dante...didn't tell me..." she managed to whisper out. "He was in pain, wasn't he?"

"Nackt has told me that the poison Krylin managed to feed him will eventually force his soul out of his body. She said that the poison probably put him through a lot of pain as well."

_"A lot of pain...?" _

Alice thought back to the time in El Nath when Dante had collapsed from the sudden pain. The pieces all began to slowly come together inside of her mind. "Was he...was he going through all this...this whole time?" she whispered to herself. Suddenly, Alice looked directly at Athena and frantically asked, "please, let me go see him! There has to be something that could be done! A cure!"

"It's too late now. The poison is already in its advanced stages, since Krylin can possess Dante's body somewhat freely."

"But-!"

"Dante has already decided upon how to solve this matter."

"Huh?"

"You don't know about his decision?" Athena lowered her icy blue eyes to the ground, deep in thought. She remained silent for a while before facing Alice again. In a low, hushed voice, Athena took Alice's hand and ordered her, "do not tell anyone about what I'm about to let you do." She gently opened up Alice's hand and placed a metal key in the middle of her palm.

"Miss Athena...?" Alice asked, looking at the key in curiousity.

"Dante is in the very last prison cell. There are guards at the entrance of the prison, but there is a small emergency duct that will take you deep underground into the prisons. It's located near the eastern forest, just off the side of the road. It's hidden by a few thick bushes." The elf carefully closed up Alice's hand so that her fingers wrapped around the key. "You have the right to know what he's about to do. You're his martyr after all."

"Th-Thank you...-"

"But be careful. Make sure you are not seen by anyone. No one knows of the emergency duct other than me," Athena said quickly in a warning tone. "Be sure that none of the guards spot you down there as well."

"I understand," Alice nodded. She stepped back and bowed slightly before running out of the council room.

Her heart raced as she got out into the main streets. She saw the sun was about to go down and she knew that she had to make great haste. Minna would probably become suspicious if she were to go back home when it was pitch dark.

Alice ran past the Eastern gates and stopped when she was standing at the edge of the forest. _"It shouldn't be too faraway from here,"_ Alice thought to herself as she slowly walked down the road. Her head turned towards each side frequently, checking each side of the road.

"Is that it...?" she asked herself when she saw a large thicket. Alice walked up to it and carefully cleared away some of the leaves. Even so, she couldn't see if there was any sort of entrance or not.

Cautiously, she edged her foot into the bush and smiled when the bottom of her boot made contact with what sounded like a wooden door. She stepped into the bush, ignoring the little twigs that scraped at her exposed hands and face, and lifted up the wooden door.

When Alice was given a view down into the dark emergency duct, she could barely make out if there was a safe landing or not. A sigh left her as she slowly lowered herself into the hole. After a few stumbles and awkward movements, Alice felt relief when her feet reached the bottom of the shallow hole.

Making sure she wasn't making any noise, Alice gently pulled the wooden door shut over her head. She then turned and began to carefully make her way down the narrow tunnel. Alice had to crouch slight in order to make sure that her head wasn't bumping up against the ceiling. It was a bit uncomfortable at first, but then much to her delight, the tunnel expanded as she went on. Finally, she could stand up straight instead of having to crouch. It was then that she also saw the first row of prison cells.

The cells that she passed, all had their doors left open. She peered inside a few of them and found that they didn't hold any prisoners.

"I entered from the very bottom of the prison so then the first closed door should be..."

Alice stopped when she saw the first prison cell that had its door closed.

_"Dante is in the very last prison cell."_

Alice suddenly felt nervous as she walked up to the cell. She stood in front of the iron door with the key held tightly in her fist. As she slowly brought the key towards the small keyhole, she stopped and wondered to herself, _"I should apologize to him, shouldn't I? But...I'm not sure if he would want to see me..."_

She shook her head, freeing herself from her thoughts and mumbled, "it'll be fine." It was slightly reassuring, but she still felt like a nervous wreck as she inserted the key. When she turned it, the lock inside the door clicked open. The iron door made a loud screeching sound as she carefully edged it open.

As soon as she stepped into the cell, she heard her name.

"Alice...?"

Alice felt her breath hitch in her throat when she saw Dante. She felt ecstatic to see him, but at the same time she felt terrified of what he might think of her after what she said to him the last time they spoke.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her as she closed the door behind her.

"I...uhm...wanted to apologize...for what I said earlier," Alice answered back in a soft, hesitant voice. She walked over to him and knelt down in front of him. A bit of uncertainty passed through her when she saw him avoiding her gaze. He seemed as though he was angry or annoyed that she had come to see him. "D-Dante...?"

"...You shouldn't have come here," he muttered lowly.

"But, I was worried! You disappeared and-"

"Why does it concern you?"

"Eh?"

Dante turned to look at her and Alice suddenly felt frightened when she saw his glaring red eyes. It seemed as though he was looking at her in the same manner when they had first met. It was a look filled with hatred and annoyance.

"I-I'm your martyr and-"

She flinched when she heard him scoff. "Are you still using that excuse? Just because you're my martyr, doesn't mean that we share some sort of tight bond."

Usually, Alice would have gotten angry at him by now and throwing him some insults, but all she felt was humiliation and defeat. Left speechless, Alice tried to form some words, but she could only produce an unintelligent stutter. "I...I..."

"Just go. All you're doing is wasting your time. I have nothing to say to you," Dante said coldly.

Alice turned her eyes towards the ground. Her head was swimming in confusion. "Why...? Why are you acting like this?" she asked, terrified of the answer he was going to give her.

The raven haired archer glanced at her and saw her heartbroken expression. He felt a pang of guilt pass through him and it took all the willpower in the world to say what he was about to tell her.

"Isn't it obvious?" he said lowly. "I hate you. All you were was a hindrance. Didn't I tell you before? I don't need a martyr, especially one as useless as you. "

Alice widened her eyes. She began to tremble from the tears that were about to fall to the ground.

_"I love you...Alice."_

"But...you said...you lo-"

Dante chuckled and asked, "you really are naive. _Loved you?_ I don't remember saying that to you at all, not that I would ever say it anyways to you of all people." He clenched his fists when he heard her crying softly. He was so close to breaking down his facade, but he knew he couldn't. After the invasion, he knew that Alice wouldn't be able to move on and forget about him if he acknowledged the true fact that he loved her. "Just leave and don't bother trying to find me again. We have nothing between us anymore."

"Th-That's...not...true..." Alice whispered softly. She felt a deep pain in her chest from Dante's words, but she tried to ignore it.

"What could there possibly be that-?"

"I love you," Alice said in a broken tone. She raised her head and looked at Dante. Her eyes filled with tears again, making him seem blurry. "M-Maybe I _am_ naive, but that won't make me change my feelings towards you."

Dante felt his heart hammering away at his chest. He tried not to show that she had affected him, but it was nearly hopeless. He wanted nothing more than to take back what he said and take her into his arms.

The warrior let out a slight laugh and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. "Even though you were mean to me when we first met, it's okay. It's okay because you gave me a lot of good memories after wards." Alice felt more tears roll down her cheeks, but she continued to smile. "You made me really happy, so even now...as you're saying these things...i-it's really fine." She laughed a little again, but it quickly turned into a choked sob.

The stabbing pain in his chest came back when he heard her let out another forced laugh.

"I had fun being your martyr, even though I couldn't protect you that well."

Dante turned away from her, unable to look at the heartbreaking fake smile she had on her face. "Just go," he whispered.

Alice bit her bottom lip and nodded slightly. She stood up onto her feet rather clumsily. "I'm sorry..." Quickly, Alice turned and walked over to the door. She fumbled with the handle for a while, but she got out of the cell soon enough.

Once the heavy iron door was locked once more, Dante sat there in the dark cell. He clenched his teeth together and let out a harsh sigh. "What are you saying 'sorry' for, you idiot? It should be me."

* * *

She didn't know how her tears had stopped. Alice felt terribly broken inside because of what Dante said to her, but she couldn't find the incentive to cry anymore.

Alice walked along the dirt road, leading back into Henesys. Her whole body felt weak and it took nearly all her strength to lift her feet up to walk.

_"Was it really all fake...?"  
_

The moments that she had spent with Dante began to cycle themselves in her mind. Each one was different, varying from the moments where she felt like killing him, to the moments when she wanted to do nothing more than to protect him at all costs.

_"I don't understand. Why...?" _

Alice went past the Eastern gates and walked back into Henesys. She held the metal key to Dante's cell tightly in her hand.

_"Did I do something wrong? Did I mess up somewhere?" _

She stopped walking and tightly clenched her fists. Her blunt nails dug into the palms of her hands painfully. Slowly, Alice brought one of her hands up to her face and covered her eye. Her face contorted into that of despair as she forced herself not to cry again. "I don't understand...!" she exclaimed, feeling tears start to leak out past her closed eyes.

_"You're my martyr. If I can't find you wherever you may be...how can I call myself your platoon leader?" _

"Alice? What are you doing out here so late?"

She looked up and saw Xin. Alice widened her sapphire blue eyes in surprise and quickly attempted to wipe away her tears. "I-It's nothing!" She let out a feeble laugh.

"Why were you crying?" the crusader asked gently, slowly walking towards her.

"I...wasn't crying...!" Alice shook her head and hoped that he couldn't see her face that well. She knew it was probably red and puffy by now. "S-Sorry, I think I need to get home now." She ducked her head down and tried to make it past him. However, Xin stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"It's about Dante...isn't it?"

"Wh-What are you talking about?" Alice laughed lightly again.

_"...I don't want to make you cry anymore." _

Alice let out an involuntary gasp when she felt tears starting to roll down her cheeks again. She clasped her hand over her mouth, trying to silence herself.

Xin noticed this and turned her around to face him. He looked down at her with an apologetic look on his face. "Alice...you can cry if you want to," he whispered as he used his fingers to wipe away her tears.

_"Go ahead and cry...I won't look at you." _

Hearing Dante's voice inside of her head, Alice tightly closed her eyes and held onto Xin. She buried her face into his chest and cried heavily. "I don't understand," she repeated. "Why?"

Xin remained silent as he held her tightly. He listened to her crying as he leaned down. Gently, he closed his blue eyes and figured he shouldn't say a word. There was no need for any.

* * *

There was a thick silence in the grand council room.

Athena had summoned the rest of the leaders and each one of them, including herself, had the same expression that was filled with shock. They all looked at each other and then looked at the ice queen, Nackt, who was seated at their same table.

"What is the meaning of this?" Athena asked, her voice slightly shaking.

Nackt narrowed her dark blue eyes at the elf and whispered lowly, "Krylin's troops are beginning their full scale invasion. What's left of the Aegis forces in the Kerning City area have already been destroyed."

"And are you sure about this?" Dark blurted out.

Nackt calmly looked over at him and answered, "my troops would not lie to me. They saw it all. Krylin now has completely taken over the Perion and Kerning City areas and she isn't stopping."

"But...it's too soon," Athena breathed out, clearly under great shock. "I thought we had a few more days!"

"Krylin isn't one to consider _deadlines_, Miss Pierce. It isn't like she scheduled an appointment. We're even lucky that she chose to inform us of this invasion beforehand."

Dances with Balrog spoke up. "Athena...we should organize the reserve army and tell them that it's time for battle. Hopefully they'll be able to hold Krylin's army long enough for us to safely evacuate all that we can."

Grendel nodded in agreement. "I will head over to Ellinea now and create a barrier around the shipyard for the time being. There's no doubt that Krylin sent troops towards Ellinea to destroy our only chances of escaping."

"Some of my troops are already there. They will help fend off any attacks that Krylin has planned for the ships," Nackt added in quickly. She pushed back her seat and stood up. "Now then...we shouldn't waste our time sitting around like this." The archmage rested her eyes on Athena for while before telling her, "the people of Henesys need you to tell them what's going on."

Athena closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly. "Yes...I know. I understand." She forced all of her fears and uncertainty down deep inside of her as she stood up from her seat. After letting out a sharp exhale, she reopened her eyes and looked at Grendel. "You and Dances with Balrog will be in charge of defending the shipyard. We _cannot_ lose it to Krylin."

The white robed wizard graciously bowed and smiled gently underneath his beard. "Understood."

"Of course," Dances with Balrog responded, smiling in light of Athena's new-found courage.

The elf smiled back at them and then quickly focused her attention on Dark, who was sitting beside her. "Alert all the platoon leaders that the evacuations are underway and tell them to secure the road that leads from Henesys to Ellinea, so that we could have it safe for the evacuees."

He grinned. "Sure."

"I will alert the townspeople of the invasion and that it is time to leave," Athena softly said.

"What about the people of Sleepywood? And Lith Harbor?" Nackt asked.

"I'm afraid it might be too late to save the few that live in Lith Harbor. Let's just be thankful that we've sent word to Shanks a few weeks earlier to stop sending new migrants over to Victoria. As for the residents in Sleepywood, they are much too far into the Dungeons for us to reach them in time. It's not worth the risk, considering there are only a few sages that live there now. I'm sure Krylin won't target it as much as she is targeting Henesys and Ellinea right now."

Nackt sighed quietly in a melancholic fashion. "Still...there is so much history on this island..."

"If you mean the Magic Library and the Aegis archives, all the records were safely transported to the Orbis and Ludibrium libraries," Grendel quickly responded. "I've asked the fairies in Ellinea a few days ago to help with the task and they were glad to do so."

"Well...not exactly physical history, Grendel. Perhaps...just the presence of the people. Even though I've been living in Ossyria for most of my life, I just think there's a sense of "togetherness" on this island. It's a bit hard to explain."

Athena shook her head. "I understand what you're trying to say, your highness. Victoria Island is such an important piece of our history, whether or not one was a part of it. My only regret right now is that I don't have the strength to defend it."

"Another day, Athena," Grendel said gently, "another day."

The elf bowed her head and exhaled softly through her mouth. "Yes, of course. Definitely...we will take back Victoria Island. We will take back our home."

* * *

**A/N **_I'M SORRY! I know I said this would be the last chapter, but I didn't realize that this whole thing came out to be over nine thousand words. If I included the final battle and everything in this chapter, it would probably come out to over twenty thousand words. I know a wall of text isn't exactly "light reading." _

_For SURE, the last chapter is the next chapter. It will have the final battle and the conclusion to Part 1 of Aegis. After that, I'll post a short "FAQ" and then I'll post up 2 fillers. One filler will be about what NekomimiToree suggested in her review (about the love potion in chapter six) and another filler will be about Alice and Dante and what would have happened if they had met when they were younger. c: Since they're fillers, they won't have anything to do with this main storyline. _

_**T-Ninja:** I can't send you any PMs, so I'll just say it here. Yes, you can use the Aegis or reference it in your story. c: I hope I'm not asking for too much, but if you could just put a little note about this story in the first chapter (in the author's note section), that'd be great. :D_


	32. Martyr

**Character List:**

**Alice Everard **_- 16 years old - Spearman _

**Dante Kyudo **_- 19 years old - Ranger_

**Cedric Windsor **_- 19 years old - Chief Bandit_

**Ada Diskenths** _- 17 years old - Hermit_

**Minna Sukoyaka **_- 15 years old - Cleric_

**Xin Jian **_- 18 years old - Crusader_

**Ivan Alfort **_- 18 years old - Outlaw_

**Si Hua **_- 17 years old - Assassin_

**Rose Kimura **_- 21 years old - Sniper_

**Nackt** _- 25 years old - Arch Mage (Ice/Lighting)_

**Julia Everard - **_35 years old_

**Krylin - **_24 years old - Necromancer (Dark Cleric)_

**Timm Fleischer - **_42 years old - Marauder_

* * *

**Aegis**

**Chapter 32: Martyr**

Another rush of fire tore through the forest. The helpless orange mushrooms and snails tried their best to flee the searing flames before they got burnt up.

A large army began making its way through the sea of fire. A band of fire mages led the way, torching the lush L forest and parting the flames so that Krylin's large army could advance forward.

"We will soon be arriving at Lith Harbor, your majesty," Fleischer informed Krylin as he walked alongside one of the warriors that held Krylin's throne up.

The necromancer smirked. Her blood red lips curled at the corners as she crossed her legs. Her long, black and purple dress moved slightly as she did so. "Excellent," she said with a light giggle. She brought her slim hand up and waved it slightly. A swirl of clouds fathered up before her and they revealed a somewhat grotesque scene of her undead army hacking away at the remaining Aegis forces in Kerning City. "No wonder they're trying to escape. They're powerless against me." Krylin laughed rather darkly as she waved her hand again. The cloud disappeared before her.

"Lith Harbor has virtually no permanent residents. Most of them are sailors and they will most likely succumb to your power, your majesty."

Krylin smiled and looked down at the marauder. "Do not worry, Captain. You'll get your chance at revenge soon enough. Lith will fall quickly into my hands and it's onwards to Henesys. Once I get ahold of Henesys, the whole of Victoria Island is mine..."

* * *

A loud alarm sounded throughout the town.

Athena walked briskly through the streets. She had Dante's Dark Arund in her hands and she knew she had to make great haste in order to get it to him. Already, she had alerted the townspeople of the coming invasion and that they should prepare to leave soon.

As she was walking towards the prisons, the streets seemed as though they were in chaos. People were running about, trying to gather their possessions, trying to say one last goodbye to their loved ones, or trying to finish up some quick, last minute business.

Silently, Athena wondered if there would be enough time to control this chaotic scene and safely get everyone on board the ships.

Just as she got to the prisons, someone a few feet away from her exclaimed loudly, "look at that!"

Athena looked at him and then off into the direction in which he was pointing towards. She saw the sky slowly being painted over in a sinister dark gray color because of the smoke. It wouldn't be long before the smoke cover reached Henesys. She needed to be quick.

"Miss Pierce," the guard at the entrance of the prisons said, "will you need to see _him_?"

"Yes."

"Be careful," he warned her as he stepped aside. "Some of the other prisoners are starting to get antsy. I guess they heard the commotion going on up here."

"Thank you."

Without wasting anymore time, Athena ran into the depths of the prisons. As she did so, she fished around in the pockets of her silky robes for the metal key to Dante's cell. When she got a hold of it, she ran faster.

Athena breathed heavily when she arrived in front of the cell. She fumbled with the key for a bit before slipping it into the door's keyhole.

"Dante," she immediately said as soon as she opened up the door. Athena rushed up to him and knelt down. She used the same key to undo the cuffs on his wrists and neck. "You must hurry."

"It's starting?" he asked her, rubbing his sore wrists when the cuffs came off. Dante saw the elf hand him his bow.

"The reserve army is about to leave soon." Athena held the Dark Arund in her hands and tentatively asked him, "are you sure you want to go through with this?...It's not too late to back out now."

Dante narrowed his dark red eyes at her before he took the Arund from her hands. "I've already made up my mind," he replied curtly.

"I see," Athena said softly. She felt him brush past her as she walked out of the cell. "Dante," she said, stopping him briefly. "Don't be so reckless."

He glanced back at her before leaving the cell without saying another word. His plan wasn't to commit suicide by willingly letting the enemy kill him. It was to do his best until the moment came. He wasn't going to go down meekly and submit to Krylin.

Once Dante got out of the prisons, he looked around at the chaotic scene of people before him. Seeing as how he had no time to waste, he managed to weave in and around the various crowds of people towards the council building. It was tough, as there were so many people rushing to get to wherever it is that they needed to go. Constantly, he found himself apologizing because of the amount of people that he was unintentionally bumping into.

When he got free of the main crowds, he picked up his speed. However, before he could get anywhere far, he was stopped by a familiar face crossing his path.

Dante came to a stop just a few feet away from the dark haired crusader that blocked his way. "Xin..." He saw him raise his head and look at him with his blue eyes. Dante thought that he saw a rather dark look in the warrior's eyes, but he didn't think too much of it.

"Can we talk?" Xin asked, his voice low and soft.

"I need to join the rest of the reserve army," Dante responded. "Now's not really a good time."

"It's about Alice," he said, "and about what you told me a few days ago."

A slight wind blew and tousled Dante's bangs, tickling his face. He warily watched the crusader turn around and silently gestured for Dante to follow him. Figuring that it was something serious, Dante simply decided to follow him. He slipped his bow behind him until he heard the small clamps lock down on the Arund's riser and adjusted the leather strap that ran diagonally across his chest.

He saw Xin slip into an alley and he followed suit. Just as he walked in, Xin turned around to face him.

"Why are you doing this?"

Dante narrowed his eyes at the crusader's question and chuckled dryly. "Is that all you wanted to ask me?"

"Answer me."

"Why are you so prominent on learning the answer?"

Xin clenched his fists and suddenly lashed out, "because you obviously didn't give Alice the answer!"

His red eyes widened slightly, but Dante tried to remain collected. "How could you possibly know-?"

"Alice was crying! Even though she didn't tell me anything, I know that she was crying because of you!"

"...Are you done? I need to be with the reserve army right now," Dante muttered, sounding careless about what Xin just told him.

The black haired warrior looked at him in shock. His face then contorted into that of anger as he rushed forth and grabbed Dante roughly by the collar of his shirt. Xin slammed him against the wall and looked directly into his eyes. "You care about Alice! I know you do!" he yelled. "You're not helping anyone by hiding that fact!"

"Get to the point."

"Why do you keep hurting her?"

Dante stood there unwavering. He hoped that Xin didn't see any changes in his expression because inside, he was breaking down. "Q-Quit wasting my time with this." He bit his tongue and silently cursed at himself for stuttering. Mustering up all his strength, Dante brought his hand up to Xin's wrist and held it tightly. "Let go."

"Alice is willing to risk her life to save you! Do you realize how much she cried that night? Over you? Do you know how much you mean to her?" Xin's fist shook as he held onto Dante's shirt even more tightly.

"You're in no position to lecture me over this-" Dante stopped when he felt Xin punch him across the face. It was so sudden that he froze from the shock.

The crusader felt the pain of the impact on his knuckles, but he ignored it. "If you really cared about Alice that much...you'd be doing all you can to protect her _yourself_." Xin let go of Dante's shirt and backed away. He watched as the archer slowly raised his hand up to his reddened cheek. "...Maybe Alice really is better off without you," Xin muttered before leaving the alleyway.

Dante slumped against the wall as he heard Xin's retreating footsteps. He let out a harsh sigh as his shock wore off and was replaced with regret. He stood there in the alley and wondered if what Xin said was right. He _did_ care about Alice, more than anyone could possibly imagine. So then...why...?

Suddenly frustration built up inside of him and he promptly showed it by slamming his fist against the wall behind him. He growled and asked to no one in particular, "why is this so hard? Why can't I figure it out?" He buried his face in his gloved hands. "What am I supposed to do...?"

* * *

The sound of the blaring alarm outside frightened Minna. Even when the alarm paused for a few seconds, the hideous sound continued to ring inside of her head.

"D-Do you need to go to the reserve army?" she asked Ivan hesitantly. She was afraid of his answer, even though she knew very well of what it would be.

The blonde nodded as he grabbed the brown leather belt that holstered his gun. He quickly secured it around his waist and made a move to grab his black Canopus hat. Just as he placed it on his head, he felt Minna's delicate fingers lace around his hand.

Ivan looked down at her and saw her red wine colored eyes full of worry and sadness. As a silent answer, he brought his hand up and gently traced the curve of her face. When his fingers reached her small chin, he leaned down and gave her a fleeting kiss.

Minna let out an unintentional whimper when he pulled away. She hated the fact that the warmth of his lips had disappeared so quickly. "This...this is the last time we'll see each other...isn't it?" she whispered. Her voice cracked slightly from the onset of tears.

The gunslinger held both of her hands in his and gave them a gentle squeeze. Ivan leaned in close to her. "I'll come back for you," he muttered.

When Minna felt him squeeze her hands again, she knew that even he wasn't sure if he would make it out alive or not. She painfully shut her eyes and bowed her head, hiding her tears from him.

"You should get on the ships now." Ivan slowly let go of her hands. His fingers barely left her skin when he suddenly felt her take hold of his hands again.

Minna buried her face into his chest. She shook her head and cried loudly, almost in an immature way. "It's not fair!" Her usually cheerful, kind, and caring nature disappeared in that moment. Minna was tired of forcing down her true feelings. She was hurt and angry. "It's not fair!" she cried out again, tightly clutching onto his white blouse.

Ivan watched her cry and it somewhat shocked him on how quickly her character had changed. Then, he reminded himself that she was still at a young age. She wasn't someone that was suited for war, she wasn't someone that liked to fight, she wasn't an emotionless warrior...she wasn't someone like him.

Knowing this, Ivan brought his arms up and held her tightly. She was still just a child at heart and he found himself understanding that.

"Minna," he said softly. Ivan leaned down so that he was just inches away from her lips. What he said in a gentle whisper, shocked Minna so much that it made her mind go blank. "...Thank you for loving me."

With her teary eyes, the cleric looked up at him.

Within the next second, Ivan leaned down and captured her lips in a searing kiss. His heart beat wildly inside of him as he held her flush against him. Their bodies fit together perfectly like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Because of this, he knew that Minna could probably feel his heartbeat, but he could care less about that. He loved her so much and he didn't care if she or anyone else knew all about it.

When they finally pulled away, Minna coughed slightly from the lack of air. Her plump, pink lips were parted just slightly, seemingly inviting him for one more kiss.

Ivan scooped the small cleric up in his arms and kissed her again.

Deep inside her mind, Minna knew that Ivan should be going to join the reserve army. She knew that she should remind him. However, when Ivan began to deepen the kiss, Minna closed her eyes and decided to remind him later. For the next few minutes they had left together, she wanted him all to herself and herself only.

* * *

"Where are we going?"

Alice faced her little brother and smiled slightly. "We're going to go to Ossyria, where mom is."

Sean lightly kicked the wooden floorboards in his room. "But I like it here," he mumbled sullenly. Alice's pet husky, which was sitting on top of the bed right beside their luggage bag, perked its ears up.

The warrior sighed softly as she placed another batch of clothes into the bag. "I do too," she whispered, "but, we'll come back soon!" Alice let out a feigned laugh , hoping that it would help make him feel better. "Everything will be fine real soon!"

Sean's face lightened up a bit after what Alice said. He nodded happily and asked, "will we be living with mommy?" When Alice gave a slight nod, Sean laughed a little. "I'm curious to see how Omega Sector looks like!"

"M-Me too."

In all truthfulness, Alice wasn't fond of the idea of going to live with her mother at Omega Sector. Not only did she know that Omega Sector was not as _peaceful_ as Henesys is, but she knew that she would be isolated from everyone else.

The blaring alarms from outside brought Alice back to her senses. She quickly shook her head and closed up the large bag. This was no time to be thinking about something like that. For now, she had to focus on making sure that at least Sean got onto the ships safely.

Alice stood up from the ground and went over to her polearm, which rested against the wall near the door. She took it by the leather straps of the hold and brought over her chest. Once she secured the metal buckle tightly, she went back to the large bag that held most of their personal items. "We'll be fine," she muttered as she took the bag up into her arms. She wasn't sure if she said that to Sean or if she said to herself.

_"Why do I feel so unsettled...? Is it because of this invasion?" _

Sean held out his arms and the small pet husky jumped towards him. He little boy giggled as the husky licked his rosy cheeks. Sean then walked out of the room first, quickly followed by Alice. She tightly held the bag in her arms. All the while, she could still hear the blaring alarm from outside.

_"No...it's not because of that." _

Even as she told herself that, Alice still didn't know the real reason as to why she felt so _empty._ Her heart ached slightly when she suddenly thought of Dante, but she quickly forced herself to forget about him. There was no use in trying to bring him up again.

_"We're probably better off without each other anyways..." _

* * *

"You will all do your best to hold off Krylin's forces until the last ship from the Ellinia ports leave. There is no room for error as the lives of the innocent are at stake..."

Dante lowered his head so that he didn't have to look at the dozens of soldiers that stood before the council building. He drowned out Athena's voice to the best of his abilities as she was standing right beside him. He kept asking himself if he was going to regret this and if this was really worth it.

_"Why do you keep hurting her?" _

Xin's voice echoed in Dante's head. The archer closed his eyes tightly and answered the question silently.

_"I'm not hurting her..."_

He suddenly was reminded of his last meeting with Alice and how she had confessed to him. There was a sharp pain that stabbed him in the chest. It took all of his willpower to force it all down. Now wasn't the time to be reminded of something like that. For now, he had to remain strong and persevering. He was the only platoon leader and the highest ranking Aegis member that was in the reserve army. He had to put on a brave front in order to keep the rest of the soldiers at ease.

"Now then!" Athena stepped back and motioned towards Dante. "Platoon Leader Kyudo will lead all of you until you meet Krylin's invading forces. You will all follow his orders! Is that clear?"

The mass of soldiers responded to her in unison with a loud cheer.

"You are all brave men and women! The Aegis and the people of the former Victoria Island will remain indebted to all of you!"

Dante felt Athena gently touch his shoulder. He felt her lean in close to him and whisper into his ear, "good luck, Dante. May the goddesses be with you. "

For a brief moment he felt comfort in her words, but as soon as Athena pulled away he felt that comfort leaving him. He closed his eyes momentarily, trying to get rid of his nervous feeling, before he reopened them again.

His gaze was strong and unwavering as he stepped forward and shouted in his best, commandeering voice, "for Victoria Island!"

All the soldiers in the reserve army cheered loudly while pumping their fists high into the air.

As the cheering continued, Ivan, in the back crowd, looked up at the sky. It was painted in a dark gray color with a few spots of orange here and there because of the incoming fires. The sky should have been a bright blue color at this time of day, but it was dark and gloomy.

There was an ominous feeling hanging around the air. Ivan suddenly felt his heart race as he turned around and looked towards the direction that the evacuees were leaving Henesys from. "Minna..." he whispered. Deep within his mind, Ivan had a strange feeling that things were not going to go _right._

* * *

As they walked further away from the giant clocktower, the fainter the alarm got.

Alice trudged along the dirt path. She walked beside her brother on one side of him and Minna walked beside Sean's other side, with Alice's pet husky on top of Sean's head. All four of them were right in the middle of the huge line of people that were slowly walking through the Henesys meadows and going towards the lush forests of Ellinia.

Minna was talking and playing with Sean until she raised her head to look at Alice. She noticed the rather forlorn expression on the warrior's face. "Alice...?" she asked cautiously. "Are you alright?"

"Hm?" the blue haired girl snapped out of her trance and faced the cleric. "I-I'm fine! I'm just a little bit nervous about this whole thing, that's all!" Alice put on her best fake smile again.

"Ah, is that so?"

The warrior smiled again and nodded. She swallowed down the feeling of fear that was starting to creep up inside of her. Alice knew that she had to stay strong for Sean. She couldn't let him see that she was scared of this whole ordeal.

As the tall trees of Ellinia came into view, Alice looked back at the road they have already passed. Behind her were hordes of people who were evacuees such as herself. They all seemed to be rather sullen as they walked on. Then, Alice looked beyond them and saw Henesys. She got a better look of the homely town as the road led to higher ground. In the distance, she saw the dark plume of smoke as well as the bright orange light from the incoming fire.

It wasn't going to be long until the fires reached Henesys. Everything was going to be burnt up. Alice tightened her fists at this. Never before did she feel so helpless. It felt as if Krylin was going to take _everything_ away from her.

Alice let her eyes wander back to the people behind her. She found herself thinking about Dante again and wondering if he was somewhere in this large crowd. Alice was a bit glad that she didn't run into him so far. It was almost certain in her mind that Dante would ignore her even if they made eye contact. This thought made Alice tightly grip her arm. She felt her throat tightening up when she remembered his cold, deathly glare at her at the time she went to go see him in the prisons. Never before had she seen such a look from him; even when she was first assigned to be his martyr.

She bowed her head down and didn't even notice that they were now within the tall trees of Ellinia.

In the lush forest, Alice heard the low foghorns of the ships. She raised her head when she felt the cool, refreshing air within Ellinia's forests. Just as she closed her eyes to relish the fresh air, there was a loud explosion in the distance.

Almost immediately, there was chaos. People were screaming and pushing forward in order to get to the ships faster. An Aegis platoon leader that was nearby attempted to calm everyone down, however, his voice was drowned out by the large crowd of civilians.

Alice stumbled from the sheer number of people trying to push past her. She grabbed Sean's hand and looked around for Minna, but she couldn't see the strawberry blonde anywhere. "Minna!" she shouted, looking around frantically. "Minna!" Before she could call out the cleric's name once more, the crowd shoved her and Sean further down the path.

* * *

Minna had stepped off to the side of the road when she had lost her hold on Sean's hand. She stood behind a large tree and looked out at the distance where the explosion took place. Her red wine colored eyes flashed with immense worry and fear as the fires inched closer to Henesys.

"Ivan..." she whispered, bringing her hand up to her chest.

Another loud explosion sounded and the stream of people screamed again. Minna flinched at the loud sound and turned back towards the direction where everyone was headed towards. Promptly, she lowered her head in thought. A conflicted look remained on her face for a while.

Minna raised her head and looked towards the heart of Ellinia, where the ships were. She then turned to look out at the slowly burning landscape around Henesys. Her heart beat wildly as she was torn on what to do.

Finally, she tightly gripped her Thorns staff as she made her final resolve.

"I'm sorry, Alice."

Taking one last final look towards Ellinia, Minna closed her eyes and away from the lush forest town and towards the incoming firestorm.

* * *

"Hey! Quit shoving!" Ada yelled at the people behind her. "Jeez..." she muttered under her breath as she helped Cedric up the hill.

The bandit laughed at his martyr's actions. "You're so forceful, Ada, but that's what makes you that much more adorable!"

Ada glared at him and turned away in embarrassment. "You're lucky you're still recovering." She felt his arm that was around her shoulders, tighten just slightly. Ada had one arm around his waist and the other one was gently pressed against his wound. "It doesn't hurt anymore...does it?"

"Of course not!" Cedric responded. "Ada was such a cute nurse taking care of me! And that nurse's outfit you wore-" He cringed in pain as Ada pressed her hand up against his wound.

"I don't ever recall wearing anything like that," she said in a dangerous tone.

"A-Ah..." Cedric laughed sheepishly and stuttered out, "th-then maybe I was just fantasizing about it..."

"You horny pervert," Ada growled out. "Can't you go _one minute_ without thinking about those things?"

"O-Okay, I'm sorry Ada!" the bandit exclaimed as he feigned a slight laugh. "It hurts when you do that...!"

"That's the whole point." Ada huffed and took her hand off from his stomach. She heard Cedric cough as he recovered from what she did to him.

He finally took in a deep breath and sighed as he raised his head to look at the mass of trees that surrounded Ellinia. "Where are you going to go once you get to Ossyria?"

Ada shrugged her shoulders, partly to relieve herself of the weight of the knapsack she carried. "Depends on where Athena decides to set up the Aegis there." She let out a tired sigh. "My parents are probably too busy with research at Magatia to take me in."

"Oh..."

She glanced at him briefly. Ada sighed as she held onto his arm. "What's with you? You don't need to look so sad over that. I don't want you to start to pity me because I don't _need_ the pity. I'm better off without them anyways. Why else do you think I came to Victoria Island by myself?"

Before Cedric could talk, he was stopped by someone brushing past his shoulder.

Ada looked to see who it was. "...Minna?"

The cleric widened her eyes at the sound of her name. "A-Ada?"

Both Ada and Cedric stepped out from the crowd and went up to Minna, who looked rather flustered and distressed. "Is everything okay, Minna?" Cedric asked her worriedly.

"A-Ah, yes! Everything's fine!" Minna giggled rather uneasily. "I'm sorry, I'm in a bit of a hurry-"

"Isn't Ellinia, _that_ way?" Ada asked suspiciously, pointing with her thumb over her shoulder. She grew even more suspicious when Minna fidgeted.

Unable to say anything, Minna let her cheerful aura die down. She bowed her head and whispered, "I'm sorry." Minna raised her head to face the two thieves again and she said with a sad smile, "please tell Alice to go on without me. I think she might be searching for me right now."

"Minna...just what are you planning to do?"

"I'm sorry," Minna repeated to Ada. "I...I can't leave him behind."

"Huh?"

Before Ada could question the cleric anymore, Minna ran away.

"Minna!" Ada called out to her. She huffed and furrowed her brow in frustration. After a brief period of silence, Ada took off her knapsack and shoved it in Cedric's arms. "Jeez, she's always so troublesome..."

Cedric looked at the assassin with a surprised look on his face. "You're going to go after her?"

The black haired girl clicked her tongue in annoyance. "She'll just get herself lost if I don't go with her. I'll be back soon." Ada pulled up the ends of her Blue Moon gloves up to her elbows. "Don't you dare try to follow me." Ada warned the bandit. She gave a slight wave of her hand and ran off after Minna.

* * *

There was a booming explosion not too far from where they were. It rattled the trees surrounding them and the ground felt as if it would cave in from underneath their feet. The next explosion shook the surroundings so hard, that many of the troops stumbled.

"Be on your guard!" Dante shouted to the troops behind him. He reached for his bow and released it from its hold. They were going to run right into the enemy troops soon. "Remember! We stall Krylin's troops as long as we can! Do _not _let them get close to Ellinia!"

"Yes sir!"

Dante tightened his hold on his Dark Arund as they cautiously walked on. He felt fear start to envelope his mind, but he did his best to keep it at bay.

"Scared?"

The raven haired archer, startled by the sudden voice beside him, widened his eyes and turned to see Ivan. "What are you doing here?" he asked the gunslinger.

Ivan glanced at him before keeping his eyes straight ahead. "Same reason you are."

Dante stared at the blonde for a while before he let out a dry chuckle. "Is that so?" He heard another explosion ahead of them and instinctively, he kept two fingers on the string of his bow.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Huh?"

"You're scared."

Dante narrowed his red eyes at Ivan. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't have to hide it. I could tell. You're scared," Ivan repeated calmly. He looked down the path they were taking, looking as stoic as ever. Dante thought he saw no fear at all in Ivan's eyes.

"I've been in battles like this a few years ago. I'm not scared."

"Then you must be scared of something else," Ivan muttered. "Whatever it is, it's not good to keep it around you if you want to survive this."

A wry laugh left Dante's lips. "Just worry about yourself. No matter how _invincible_ you are, you have your own limits."

Ivan lowered his head and slowly brought his hand up to touch the eyepatch that covered his blind eye. "I know," he whispered almost inaudibly. The pirate clenched his fist tightly, suddenly feeling the slightly bit of anger bubble up inside of him. He knew and accepted this fatal weakness of his a long time ago, even back when he was in Omega Sector. However, whenever he was reminded of this weakness now, he felt frustration. It made him feel powerless.

_"__I wonder...should I try controlling your body when you're with that adorable little cleric of yours? Minna, was it?"_

He let out a soft gasp when he heard Krylin's voice inside of his head. Even though he knew it was just his own thoughts, the necromancer's chilling voice seem almost surreal to him.

_"I need to get stronger..." _

Ivan gently pressed his fingertips onto the eyepatch and then released.

_"I need to get stronger...for Minna's sake." _

Just as Ivan was about let his hand down to relax, he felt a strange presence. Immediately, he took his gun out of its holster and aimed it up at the thick trees.

"Is something there, Ivan?" Dante asked, looking up in the direction where Ivan was pointing his gun. He saw nothing, but he kept his guard up nevertheless. "It might only be a scout..."

Ivan shook his head and muttered, "no...it's not a scout. The presence I felt was too familiar-" He was quickly cut off by the loud sound of several people crying out in pain. Both him and Dante whipped around and saw a good number of soldiers being impaled by sharp ice spears. However, before either of them could react, they found that they could not move their feet.

When they looked down they saw ice creeping up their legs. It kept them frozen to the ground.

"Damn it, so they plotted an early ambush," Dante cursed as he tried to free himself. "We're not that far from Henesys too."

Behind them, Dante could hear the sounds of more soldiers being taken out. He knew that he had to lead the army to safety and out of this ambush. He grit his teeth when the ice got thicker around his feet and began to get up to his knees.

Ivan thought quickly and reached into the small pouch that was strapped to his waist. From there, he fished out a rather large bullet. "Stay back," he told Dante as he loaded the bullet into his Concerto gun. He aimed the golden gun down at their feet and pulled the trigger. In a flash, the burst of fire from the gun melted the ice in no time.

"Take the army to safety," Ivan said quickly. "I'm going to get rid of the ambush."

Before Dante could stop him, Ivan had already jumped up into the trees to try and seek out the hidden ice mages that were attacking them.

* * *

Already Ivan spotted one of the mages that were casting spells to freeze the Aegis army in their tracks. He narrowed his green eyes and swiftly jumped down behind the mage.

"What the-?" The mage barely had time to defend himself from the pirate before two bullets were fired into his head.

Just as the ice mage fell to the ground, Ivan felt the presence of another person's mana behind him. He turned on his heels and jumped just as an array of uneven, large ice spears broke through the ground. It was such a close hit that it threw him slightly off-balance.

Ivan managed to land on his feet, however sloppy his landing was, and looked up to see three other mages in front of him.

"Quick on his feet, isn't he?" one of the mages said with a slight sneer. She raised her hands up and muttered an incantation. As she did so, she slowly raised her arms up.

Ivan jumped up as soon as she brought her hands down in a quick motion. He believed that she was going to strike him with the same move as before, but he soon found himself to be sadly mistaken.

"Ice Strike!" the female mage yelled out.

Widening his emerald green eyes in shock, Ivan turned around in midair to see dozens of sharp ice crystals falling down towards him. He had no time to get out of the way and so, he felt the crystals pierce through him. He fell to the ground, pinned to it by the crystals that stabbed through his hand, neck, shoulder, legs, and abdomen.

Ivan coughed and a generous amount of blood came out of his mouth. He breathed heavily as he tried to pull the ice crystals out. The pain was overwhelming, but he knew that it would go away soon.

He grunted as he ripped out the crystal that pinned his other hand to the ground. His breathing grew shallow as he attempted to pull out the icicle that impaled his neck.

"Don't bother," he heard the female ice mage telling him. He saw her standing over him with a slightly crazed grin. Her light blue eyes showed nothing, but pure amusement, probably from see him in such a state. "You're good as dead if you let yourself bleed out like that."

Ivan felt the wound on his hand starting to heal over. With all of his strength, Ivan pulled out the crystal from his neck. Immediately, that wound began healing over as well.

"What in the world-?"

He heard her backing away as he slowly got up from the ground. Ivan continued to pull out the icicles from his body. Copious amounts of blood came spilling out of his wounds, but he stood there unwavering. Ivan kept a steely cold gaze at the three mages. He walked towards them slowly and he saw them backing away in response.

"Wh-What the hell are you?"

Ivan saw her staring at his wounds, which were now starting to heal right before her eyes.

"You...You should be dead!" The mages all looked at him with a horrified expression as the last of Ivan's wounds healed over.

Wordlessly, Ivan raised his gun and pulled the trigger. In a series of loud gunshots, all three mages fell to the ground, dead. He looked down at their bleeding bodies for a while before he felt the strange presence he had sense earlier. It felt foreign, but at the same time it felt almost familiar to him. It was almost as if...

A bullet flew past his head and into the ground in front of him. Ivan felt his warm blood leak out of the small wound he had received on the cheek. He brought his hand up to the injury and felt it healing itself already. Slowly, he turned around to face whoever it was that fired at him...and to see who it was that had the familiar, but foreign mana.

* * *

There was nearly no morale or hope left in the remaining soldiers of the reserve army. Their numbers had dwindled significantly and they were right in the heart of what was Krylin's invasion. Worst of all, they were completely surrounded on all sides.

Dante had managed to get the army out from the ice mage ambush from earlier, but he knew that it would take a miracle to get the rest of the army out of the firestorm that Krylin's army had created. He looked all around them and saw nothing, but searing hot flames. "First it was ice, now it's fire, huh?" he muttered under his breath as he readied his bow.

Up ahead, several fire mages approached them. They had their wands and staffs raised and without warning, they launched their attacks directly at the reserve army.

"Look out!" Dante shouted to the army as he got out of the way. He felt the flames barely brush past him as he stumbled. As he caught his balance, he raised his bow and suddenly started to tremble.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath, trying to calm himself down. He tightly held his Arund. "Get a grip," he whispered as he willed himself to stop trembling. Dante strung a shining arrow onto his bow and took aim.

A bright red aura surrounded him. The energy from the aura quickly transferred to the arrow and Dante shot it out. As it tore through the air, the arrow caught on fire.

One of the mages saw this and deflected it easily with a simple mana shield. When they began to focus their attacks more on Dante, he dodged them and hid behind a row of trees. He had his back flat against the trunk of a might oak tree as he hastily unclipped a small black object from his belt. Dante breathed heavily as he formed a bright, soul arrow in his trembling hand.

_"Damn it, quit shaking..."_

Dante bit his bottom lip as he fastened the object to the arrow. Once he got it secure enough, he strung it on his bow and took a deep breath before he came out from behind the tree line. He narrowed his red eyes and shot the arrow at the mages before he quickly went back behind the trees.

The arrow hit the ground just before them. At this, one of them let out a chortle. "Missing your shot during a battle such as this can be deadly, Mister Platoon Leader."

Dante bowed his head and whispered to himself, "I didn't miss..."

The mage looked back down at the arrow when he heard a soft beeping sound. He and the other mages widened their eyes and attempted to flee, but it was already too late.

A loud explosion rattled the burning forest. Dante came out from his hiding spot and saw that all of the mages were killed by the explosion from the bomb he attached to the arrow. When he looked for the rest of the Aegis army, he saw that many of them were scattered now, fighting their own battles.

Krylin's forces had now begun their long, bloody fight with them.

* * *

The low foghorns of the ships rang throughout the Ellinia ports. The shipyard was extremely crowded as people fought to get on the ships safely. Unfortunately, only a few ranked Aegis members were there to try and keep the evacuation lines orderly.

Alice tightly held her little brother's small hand as they stood within the crowd that was being guided onto one of the large ships. Once in a while, she looked around in a dire attempt to find Minna. However, she was unaware that the cleric was not at the shipyard at all.

"Alice."

The blue haired warrior turned to the sound of her name and saw Athena standing just beside her. "O-Oh! Miss Athena!" Alice stepped out from the slow moving crowd and went up to the elf. "I'm sorry, I was just looking for Minna," she said sheepishly.

"That's quite alright," Athena replied, smiling gracefully. "It's rather chaotic here, isn't it? I apologize for that."

"Eh? Oh no! It's fine!" Alice laughed a little, trying not to sound too awkward, but she knew that she was failing.

"Is...something on your mind, Alice?"

"N-Not really..."

Athena looked at her with a certain concern and sadness in her eyes. She lifted up her delicate hand and placed it down on Alice's shoulder. "I know that you're concerning yourself over Dante, but I assure you that he'll be fine. He's doing this all on his own free will and even I won't stop that."

"...Huh?" Alice widened her sapphire blue eyes in confusion. "Miss Athena...what exactly do you mean...? "His own free will?"" She was even more confused when Athena shot her a skeptical look.

"Didn't Dante tell you when you went to go visit him in the prisons?"

"Tell me...what?"

The elf remained silent, obviously distressed. She didn't know how she was going to proceed on telling Alice the potentially shocking piece of news. Alice noticed this and backed off slightly.

"Uhm...I'll just ask Dante later-!"

"There is no later, Alice." Athena opened her mouth, but hesitated for a while before speaking once more. "There is no later," she repeated calmly. "Dante isn't here."

"...What do you mean?"

"He's signed up for the reserve army. There's a high probability that he won't be coming back."

There was a slight ringing noise inside of Alice's head. It escalated slowly as Alice let the information seep into her. "So then...Dante..."

"He chose this all on his own. I tried to talk him out of it, but he was rather adamant. He knows that he won't be coming out alive."

Alice felt her hands trembling at what Athena told her. She felt lost and blank. Dante never told this nor did he ever mention it to her. Even though she knew that she shouldn't think about him anymore because of the hurtful things he did to her, she found that she couldn't stop concerning herself over him.

"I'm sorry Dante didn't tell you this himself, Alice. That's the only reason that I sent you into the prisons to see him. I thought since you were his martyr, you should know about this straight from him." Athena paused when she saw the spearman with her head bowed down. "...Alice?" she asked cautiously.

"...I...I'm not his martyr."

"What?"

Alice raised her head and looked at Athena straight in the eyes. She had a slightly sullen expression on her, but she seemed to have a sort of determination growing inside of her. "Dante's not my platoon leader and I'm not his martyr."

"Alice..."

The warrior let go of Sean's hand and smiled down at him. "Sorry Sean, your big sister has to go somewhere." She handed him their luggage bag.

"Huh?" the little boy widened his blue eyes. Sean timidly took the bag from her, fearful of what might happen. "What do you mean...?"

Alice smiled softly and looked back to Athena, who looked just as equally confused. "I'm sorry Miss Athena. I have to do this."

Athena slowly began to realize what Alice was about to do. "Alice...you can't...-"

"I may not be Dante's martyr...but I want to protect him." The blue haired girl clenched her fists. "Because Dante is a special person to me." Alice felt her heart thumping wildly inside of her chest as she sharply turned around and ran away. From behind her, she could hear both Athena and Sean's voices shouting at her. Alice closed her eyes in order to block them off. She wanted no regrets in doing what she was about to do and she didn't want to become scared at the last minute.

"Alice!"

At the different voice, Alice stopped and turned around to see Xin running up to her.

"Alice...where are you going?" he asked her breathlessly.

"I-"

"You're not thinking about going to Dante...are you?"

Alice felt as if he would stop her, so she took a cautionary step back. "I need to."

"You won't be coming back you know!" Xin suddenly shouted. "There's only one more ship left after the third one gets filled up!"

"I'm sorry. I've made up my mind, Xin." Just as Alice turned around to leave, she felt the crusader stop her by taking hold of her wrist. She turned around to yell at him to let go, but he spoke before her.

"I'm coming with you then."

"Eh?" She was shocked at what she heard.

"Dante told me to keep you safe."

"...Dante? H-He said that to you?"

Xin nodded rather sullenly. "He told me about his decision to join the reserve army weeks ago. I tried to tell you Alice, but...I promised Dante that I wouldn't tell you." He looked at Alice to see her with a look of shock on her face. "Dante cares about you...alot, Alice. Maybe that's why he's doing all this, but I don't agree with it." Xin sighed softly and gently took her hand. "That's why I'm going to go with you to get him."

"Xin..."

"I want to keep you safe too Alice. Not just because Dante told me to." Xin smiled gently and let go of her hand.

Alice smiled back at him as a silent 'thank you.'

"I'm going too."

Xin turned around at the voice and Alice looked past the crusader. She widened her eyes and asked, "Cedric?"

The green haired bandit walked over to them with a worried look on his face, much different from his usual, laid-back character. "Ada went off to look for Minna and she hasn't come back yet," he told Alice.

"Ada...?"

Cedric nodded and held his hand over his bandaged stomach. "I should have stopped her and Minna. She seemed really worried you know? Minna, I mean."

"But why would she-?"

"Minna told us that she "can't leave him behind". I think," Cedric paused for a bit, looking a bit hesitant, "I think Minna went to save Ivan."

Alice began to realize and make sense of Minna's rather odd behavior the past few days. She didn't think too much of it back then, but she had her suspicions. "We need to bring them back then!"

When Cedric nodded and stepped forward, Xin stopped him. "You shouldn't go. You're injured badly from the looks of it." Xin pointed to Cedric's bandages that were wrapped around his stomach.

"I'm going," the bandit stated firmly. "It's not only for Ada and Minna's sake, but I'm going for Dante as well." Cedric laughed a little, breaking his serious character. "That bastard thought that he could go off and get himself killed without me. I can't forgive him for that."

Xin looked back at the last two remaining evacuation ships and turned his head back to Cedric and Alice. "If we don't make it back in time, you guys know what will happen, right?"

Both the bandit and the spearman nodded.

Letting out a soft sigh, Xin reached into the small pouch he had around his waist and pulled out a maroon colored scroll. "From the looks of it before, the battle was not too far off from Henesys. With any luck, this scroll will still work and get us there. If we walk there now, we won't make it back in time." Xin explained as he gently tugged off the thin string that held the town scroll together. As soon as the seal was broken, the scroll floated out of his hand and produced a shining light.

In mere seconds, a portal was opened for them to go through. The evacuees near them didn't pay any attention as they were too occupied with boarding the ships.

"Be careful," Xin warned them. "Krylin's troops could already been in Henesys for all we know."

Alice nodded and cautiously took a step towards the portal, but she was stopped by Cedric.

"Let me go first." He turned his head slightly and flashed Alice a little grin. "Just in case..."

Alice stayed back as the bandit slowly walked through the portal. Once he was through, she waited a bit before walking into the portal herself. She heard the sound of something whirling around her and a brief flash of light passed before her eyes. She felt a slight sinking feeling before her feet met solid ground.

When the sensation passed, Alice found herself in the middle of Henesys.

"Are you alright, Alice?" Cedric asked, coming up to her side.

The warrior hurriedly nodded. She laughed slightly and told him, "sorry. I can't really get used to the portal thing even though I've done it several times." She turned around when she heard Xin coming out from the portal.

Right as he touched the ground, the portal behind them let out one last burst of light before it swirled and disappeared.

"It seems like Krylin's troops haven't gotten this far yet," Xin stated as he looked around. The whole town was deserted. This brought chills up and down Alice's spine for some reason. She thought it was because the once lively town now looked as though it was a ghost town. "Let's hurry," Alice heard Xin say as he walked towards the West gate of Henesys.

Both Cedric and Alice followed him closely.

"Do we have any scrolls to go back to Ellinia?" Alice asked curiously.

Xin shook his head. "Athena ordered that the mages stop creating Ellinia town scrolls as a safety precaution for the evacuation ships. If one of the Krylin's underlings get their hand on a Ellinia town scroll, they could easily infiltrate and destroy the ships."

"Well then...we'd better hurry and find everyone before the ships leave," Cedric commented, picking up his pace.

"That would be best."

* * *

Ivan looked up at the person that shot him and narrowed his eyes.

Up in the tree, he saw a girl staring back down at him. Her face seemed blank and expressionless as if she did not fear him at all. She didn't even bat an eyelash when Ivan moved his hand that carried his gun.

It wasn't a mystery to him on who she was.

In a blink of an eye, both of them aimed their guns at each other and shot. Likewise, both of them dodged the bullets and continued to fire off attacks almost endlessly. It would have been a rather stunning display to anyone that was watching them, if they ignored the fact on how deadly it was.

Once the hail of bullets stopped, both of them came to a rest.

Ivan landed on the branch of a tree adjacent to the tree that his opponent was in. He bowed his head and then looked back at her again.

A slight wind blew, carrying particles of ash through the air. The female gunslinger's blond, ankle-length hair moved slightly. She kept her emerald green eyes on him as she swept back her long coat slightly to reveal a second holster on the right side of her waist.

Ivan warily watched her as she carefully released the gun and pull it out of her holster. He felt a bit of fear set in when she aimed the shiny red and black gun at him.

"Why are you scared?" she suddenly asked.

Ivan didn't answer her, but he felt unsettled when she asked him that. He knew that it was true. For some reason, he felt fear.

The mysterious girl clicked the second gun and let her mana run into it. "I'm not scared...so why are you?" She shot at him with both guns.

Quick on his feet, Ivan jumped down from the tree and took cover behind it. He tightly held his Concerto gun when he heard her land softly on the ground. Her heeled boots made little noises as she walked. It sounded almost ominous to Ivan when he heard her coming closer.

"We were created by the same people," he heard her say. "You and I...we're the same. So then...why are you scared?"

Ivan came out from behind the tree and quickly fired off a few rounds at her. However, he wasn't quick enough as she easily jumped up and dodged all of his bullets. Before he could retreat again, he felt a blow to his head. She had given him a swift kick before she landed on the ground where he once stood.

From the force of the blow, Ivan fell to the ground and slid a few feet before coming to a rest. He felt the throbbing pain slowly recede as his body healed itself. As his head cleared up, he tried to get back up on his feet.

"Is that why _mother_ called you a "mistake"?"

Ivan gasped when he felt her step on his chest. He coughed as she put more weight on the foot that held him down.

"I wonder what it's like...to be able to _feel_ fear. To feel scared..."

He could feel a few of his ribs cracking underneath the pressure. Ivan grunted and tried to reach out for his gun, which was thrown from his hand when he fell.

"I saw you while we were _there._ It was horrible, wasn't it? I can tell you were in a lot of pain. Even though I was in a different room than you, I could still hear your screams and cries." She lowered her green eyes down to his chest and saw crackles of electricity sparking. "Good thing you could heal yourself. At least you won't have to live with the wounds."

Ivan could feel the metal of his gun against his fingertips. Just a bit more...

"You know what mother told me? She told me that I wasn't a failure like you. She told me that she was proud of me. She even liked the fact that I was given a real, human name. Did she like your human name?...Ivan?"

As soon as Ivan got a hold of his gun, he pointed it up at her and shot her several times in the head. He panted as she stumbled away, disoriented from the gunshots. Ivan got up and cringed in pain as his broken ribs slowly started to heal themselves.

"You're still not used to the pain?"

He focused his attention back to her and saw her standing straight once again. The bullet holes in her head slowly healed themselves. Ivan breathed heavily as he silently begged for his injuries to heal faster.

"Still healing yourself? You seemed to heal yourself quite quickly before." The girl pointed both of her guns at him. "Is this one of your flaws, Ivan? Your healing process gets weaker the more you get injured in a given amount of time, doesn't it?"

Ivan narrowed his eyes at her as he slowly tried to stand up. Just as he was about to raise his own weapon towards her, both gunslingers heard a soft female's voice in a distance.

"...Ivan? Ivan...!"

The male pirate turned his head into the direction where he heard the soft voice. "Minna?" he whispered, looking a bit shocked.

Distracted by Minna's voice, Ivan didn't even notice the blond girl had jumped up into a tree. She looked down at him and lowered her green eyes in thought. "So...that's how it is," she muttered before she took her swift leave.

Ivan turned back around, expecting to see the female gunslinger there, but was surprised to see that she had already left without his knowledge.

"Ivan!"

He brought his attention back to the sound of Minna's voice and it caught him completely off-guard when he was suddenly hugged by her.

"Ivan! You're safe!" Minna cried as she held him tightly. "Thank goodness!"

Ivan looked up and saw Ada running up to them. He shot her a rather confused look, to which Ada responded with an exasperated sigh. "I'm sorry. I tried to stop her."

Distressed with the fact that Minna wasn't boarding the ships, Ivan gently took the cleric by her shoulders and pulled her away. "Minna...why are you here?" he asked her.

Minna sniffled and wiped away her tears. "I can't...I can't leave you here by yourself. I can't..." She shook her head slowly and looked up at him with teary eyes. "Please Ivan! Don't send me away by myself!"

"I'm not letting you stay here."

"T-Then you come with me!"

"Minna, I-" Ivan was cut short as one of Krylin's soldiers jumped out from behind a line of thick shrubbery. His sword was held high above his head, ready to strike down both Ivan and Minna. Instinctively, Ivan stepped in front of Minna, ready to defend her.

Before the soldier could swing down his sword, a steely struck him right in between his eyes. As he fell to the ground lifelessly, Minna and Ivan turned around to look at Ada, who was holding two more steelies in her hands.

"Jeez, I can't believe I got dragged into this, Minna," Ada grumbled. "It's been like this ever since we left Ellinia you know? People were trying to ambush us and you just kept running past them oblivious that they were _this_ close to killing you." The black haired assassin made a little gesture with her free hand.

"R-Really?" Minna exclaimed, hugging herself and shivering.

"Why are you being all scared for now? It's all over with! I killed them all before they even got a chance!"

"But still!"

Ada sighed tiredly. She ran her fingers through her long bangs carefully, trying not to mess up the black Identity she wore on her head. "Whatever. What are we going to do now?" She looked at Minna and then at Ivan and then back at Minna again.

Minna fiddled and played with her hands as she nervously glanced at Ivan. "I...I still don't want to leave you," she quietly muttered.

"It's dangerous here."

The cleric looked up at Ivan with her round red eyes. She shook her head slightly, silently telling him that she wasn't going to go anywhere.

Ivan sighed and turned to Ada. "Please take her back."

"Why can't you just come with us?" Ada asked, blowing away some stray strands of hair away from her left eye. She crossed her arms over her chest and said to him, "most of the evacuees are at Ellinia right now. I'm sure Krylin's forces can't get there fast enough to destroy the remaining ships, so you don't need to hold them off anymore."

Ivan bowed his head slightly in thought. He felt Minna gently take his gloved hand. He could feel her smooth skin rub against his exposed fingers. He looked at her and saw Minna flashing him a sweet smile.

Seeing as how Minna wasn't going to budge from her decision, Ivan parted his lips and whispered a little 'okay.'

* * *

Dante gasped as he threw himself back against a large oak tree. He panted heavily as he struggled to keep on his feet. His whole body seemed to be screaming at him to stop moving around, to get some rest, but he ignored it.

The battle was so intense now that he had lost track of the rest of the Aegis army. There were attacks and spells flying around everywhere. The whole forest was in chaos.

Dante tried to catch his breath quickly, but the air in the whole area had become so dense with smoke and ashes. He felt so fatigued and tired that he nearly dropped his bow from his hand. All he wanted to do at the moment was to lie down.

"This is no time to be resting," a taunting voice suddenly said.

The archer turned his head and barely dodged a punch from a brawler. He stumbled on his feet slightly as he heard the wood of the tree splintering from the force of the brawler's fist. Dante tried to regain his balance, but he was much too disoriented at the moment. Because of this, he felt the brawler wrap his hands around his neck and pin him down onto the ground, hard.

Dante coughed and gagged as the brawler tried to choke him. He started to become dizzy from the lack of oxygen, but Dante knew he had to press on until the end. He gathered up all of his strength and swung his arm. His elbow gave the brawler a swift blow to the head, sending the man rolling onto the ground beside Dante.

Quickly, Dante grabbed his Arund and aimed an arrow directly down at the brawler. Before the pirate could make any move to attack him, Dante pulled back his bow and embedded the arrow into the man's skull. Once the man stopped moving, Dante breathed heavily and tilted his head back. He closed his eyes and brought his hand up to try and wipe the sweat off of his brow.

He reached into the potion pouch that was strapped to his left thigh and fished out a white potion. Dante knew that this was his last one as he pulled the cork off with his teeth. He spat the cork at the ground and drank the potion hungrily. His fatigue went away slightly, but small traces of it still lingered within his muscles.

Dante coughed and licked up the small amount that was dripping out of the corner of his mouth. He carelessly threw the glass bottle down at the ground and heard it shatter. He needed to hurry up and move somewhere else. All he was, was a sitting duck at that moment.

_"Oh dear...tired already, Dante?" _

His red eyes widened as Dante whipped around.

_"There's no use in trying to find me right now, Dante. I'm not even there. Come...come find me. I'll be waiting for you..." _

Dante let out an involuntary shiver when he heard Krylin's soft, purring giggle inside of his head. He was at his wits' end and he was in no mood for Krylin's coy games. Even though he knew this, he didn't know why he found himself running deep into the forest obeying Krylin's orders to find her.

* * *

The burning forest surrounded them. The fires were spreading and they were spreading far too quickly.

"At this rate, Henesys will be burnt down in flames soon!" Cedric shouted over the blazing fires and explosions.

Xin stopped running and restricted Alice and Cedric from going any further.

"What's wrong, Xin?" Alice asked curiously.

"I could feel a lot of distressed mana up ahead. If we keep going, we'll probably be at the heart of the battlefield. We can't risk that."

"Then what do we do?"

"Go around!" Cedric exclaimed, pointing off into the deeper, denser parts of the forest where not many people walk through. "With any luck, we'll have a better chance at finding everyone like that!"

Xin and Alice nodded as they followed the bandit into the deep forest. The sounds of battle grew louder and soon enough, it seemed to surround them on all sides.

"Stay close."

Alice tried to keep a consistent pace with Xin, but she was starting to be distracted by the sound of people dying. She closed her eyes tightly, squeezing them shut. Blocking out the sounds was hard enough on its own, but blocking out the terrifying thoughts that were beginning to form inside of her head was a whole other task. She began to lose hope in ever finding the others. What if they were already dead and all they were doing was wasting their time trying to find them?

"Alice? Alice, what's the matter?" Xin asked in response to Alice slowing down. He stopped running and stood beside the spearman. "Should we slow down?"

Cedric stopped a few feet ahead of the two warriors and looked back. "What happened?" He went up to them and worriedly asked, "did she get hurt?"

Alice shook her head. "S-Sorry...I was a bit distracted." She raised her head and smiled up at Xin and Cedric. "I'm fine!"

Xin noticed her trembling slightly. He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. "We'll all be fine, okay? There's nothing to worry about." Smiling, Xin gave her shoulder a soft, reassuring squeeze.

She looked up at him and nodded slightly. Alice wondered if it was really obvious that she was fearful of what might happen. With the sounds of battle all around her, she wondered how she could get rid of that fear.

"We'd better get moving," Cedric stated, looking around them. "It seems as though our reserve army is being defeated."

"There's too many of them and not enough of us." Xin let out a sharp sigh and closed his deep blue eyes. He seemed greatly distressed by this piece of information. "Well...I suppose there's no point in getting upset about it now. Let's just go and find-"

All three of them froze. Even the nearby soldiers from both the Aegis and Krylin's army stopped fighting. There was a certain heaviness in the air that chilled them all down to the core of their bodies. It felt ominous and almost frightening.

"This mana," Cedric whispered as he contorted his face in pain. He held his head as if he had a searing headache. "It's so strong..." He fell to his knees, as did Xin.

Alice tried to stay on her feet, but the overpowering mana was too much for her. Her legs wobbled before she fell the ground. Her head felt as if it was going to split in half as she started to hear incoherent voices in her head and ghastly screaming. The dark mana was starting to make her hallucinate.

As quick as it came, the mana suddenly vanished. The pressure that overwhelmed them had been lifted. They were no longer in pain and Alice could no longer hear the frightening voices.

Slowly, she raised her head and glanced at Xin and Cedric. "W-What was that?" she asked.

Cedric placed his hands on the ground and let out a harsh sigh. "I...I think that was Krylin's power."

"...Krylin's...?" Xin looked towards the bandit and held his head, still recovering from the headache. "I haven't felt anything like that in my whole life. We have some strong mages in the Aegis and yet none of them have mana as strong as that."

"Athena warned me and the other platoon leaders about Krylin's power." Cedric sounded as if he was mentally shaken. "I never expected her to be this powerful..." He trailed off when he raised his head. His green eyes widened slightly. "Dante...I-I can feel Dante's mana."

"Really?" Alice exclaimed, standing up carefully. "Where is he?"

Cedric closed his eyes tightly, trying to focus his senses. He stood up and muttered, "it's weak, but he's much deeper into the forest."

"We should hurry," Xin said, standing up as well. "I have a bad feeling about this..."

* * *

"Wh-What was that?" Minna squeaked out. She was visibly trembling as she was down on all fours on the ground.

Ada shook her head, trying to clear the remnants of the headache from her system. "I have no idea," she murmured. She cracked her eyes open and stated, "it's quiet. It sounds like the whole battle came to a standstill."

"The soldiers on both sides are probably stunned from what just happened. We should move now so that we won't run into anymore trouble," Ivan said. He seemed unfazed by what had happened.

"I-Ivan...are you alright?" Minna asked the pirate. Her voice sounded soft and wispy as she was still getting over the shock.

"I still have a connection to Krylin," the gunslinger admitted, sounding a bit ashamed by this. "She can still read my thoughts and see what I see if she wishes to." Ivan carefully helped the cleric up to her feet. He tightly squeezed her hands and muttered, "I don't want her to hurt you."

Minna blinked and asked him hesitantly, "d-did...Krylin say something to you, Ivan?"

Ivan silently continued to hold her hands. He didn't say anything to her except whisper to her, "not now." He quietly let go of her small hands and turned away.

"I felt Dante's mana just now. It feels weak."

"I felt it too," Ada added in. She looked at Ivan and asked, "are you going to go to him?"

"I have to," Ivan muttered. "He's the leader of the reserve army and I'm still in the army, regardless of the condition that it's in. I'm serving him for now." He turned back towards Minna, then switched his gaze over to Ada. "Take her away."

"What?" Ada asked incredulously.

"I'm not leaving you, Ivan! I already told you that!" Minna shouted. Her face was filled with worry and sadness. "We're going together!"

Ivan turned away, ignoring Minna's pleas. "It's too dangerous," he simply whispered.

"But-!"

Without another word, Ivan ran away and swiftly jumped up high into the trees, leaving the thief and the magician behind.

"Ivan!" Minna cried out. She turned back to Ada and shot her a look of hesitance.

Ada saw this and sighed. "I honestly don't know what you see in him." She walked forward and motioned to Minna to follow her.

"A-Ada..." Minna began to lighten up when she realized that Ada wanted to go after Ivan.

"If you can't keep up, I'm leaving you here all by yourself!" the assassin called out, already gaining a headstart over Minna.

"Eh? T-That's mean, Ada!" Minna cried as she tried to run after her.

* * *

The surroundings felt heavier as Dante went deeper into the forest. He weaved in and around the trees quickly, getting further away from the main areas of battle. Krylin was close and he could feel it.

The trees began to clear away slowly. They became less gnarled and he could see small patches of grass on the ground. Dante stopped in this area and looked around. He could tell that Krylin was close by. His red eyes darted around, trying to look for the necromancer, but he saw no traces of her at all.

"Looking for me, Dante?"

Dante felt his body freeze up at the sound of Krylin's sultry voice. He heard her giggle as she pressed her red lips up against his ear. She snaked her thin arms around his shoulders.

"Did you miss me?" she asked him, lightly trailing her fingers across his neck and chest. Krylin giggled again when she gently turned his head slightly so that he could look at her. "Did you forget that my voice in this body has the power to bind you? It was quite foolish to come here all by yourself."

Dante let out an involuntarily shiver when she brought her hand over his heart.

Krylin laughed softly at this. "Your heart is strong, isn't it? I like that..." She let her head rest against his shoulder as she applied her nails to his skin. "It's a shame that the one you despise is the one you cannot disobey." She looked up at him with her dark purple eyes and smirked when she saw him glaring at her. "Don't look at me like that Dante." Krylin dug her sharp nails into his skin, drawing blood. "I'm your master whether you like it or not." Torturing him, she dragged her nails across his chest slowly. She laughed as he grunted in pain. "See? This is what happens when you go against your master."

The archer felt his blood flow freely out of the wound she inflicted on him. He followed her with his eyes as she walked around him. "You're...not...my master..."

"I am." Krylin smirked as he brought her bloodied fingers to her lips. She flicked her tongue out and licked away at Dante's blood that coated her nails.

He watched as she leaned in close to him. She stood by his side and leaned up, gently placing her hand on his jaw. "You've played your part well at least. You managed to injure your best friend and you drove away the one girl that you truly loved." Krylin giggled lightly again. when she saw his expression change slightly at the mention of Alice, her devious grin quickly disappeared and her eyes narrowed at him in a dangerous glare. "How disgusting."

Dante felt her hit him across the face. The stinging pain of her slap burned on his cheek.

"You still have feelings for her."

Dante remained silent as she ran her fingers over his lips.

"Disgusting," she repeated softly. "I'll have to be in this body...the body that held that disgusting little wench countless times." Krylin let her eyes flicker up to meet his gaze. She smiled when she saw him glaring at her. "No matter. I'll make sure that you're purged of her completely."

When Dante saw her lean in, he widened his eyes and tried to turn his head away.

Krylin saw this and laughed as she backed away. "Did you think that I was going to kiss you? It's really a shame, isn't it? You can't move your body at all." She leaned in again and whispered, "I hope you feel powerless, Dante. You really can't refuse me even if you want to."

Dante narrowed his eyes in a hateful glare when he felt Krylin's lips upon his. He hated how the kiss felt. He hated it so much and yet, he still couldn't move his body. His mind screamed at him to move a limb, a finger, anything; anything to get Krylin away from him.

The need to free himself from her binds grew when he felt her bite the corner of his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. It stung when she licked the warm blood up.

_"Come on! Move!"_

Dante felt his finger twitch a bit.

_"...MOVE!"_

He suddenly brought his hand up and tightly held Krylin's thin neck tightly. His hand shook as he could still feel the stiffness that resided in his muscles.

Krylin seemed unfazed by the fact that he was just one step away from choking the life out of her. In fact, she laughed in his face. "I'm quite impressed that you had the will to do this. Very impressive...however, can you tighten your hand enough to kill me?" She smirked when he grit his teeth and tried to make his hand move. "It's useless. My bind still resides inside of you. You cannot disobey me."

"...Like hell I can't."

Dante tightened his hold around her neck, surprising her greatly. He threw her to the ground, but just before she did hit the ground, she disappeared.

"What...?" he whispered in disbelief, standing over the area where she once was.

"You can't get rid of me that easily, Dante."

The raven haired man whipped around and saw Krylin standing a few feet away from him. She had her red and black, Laevateinn staff in one of her hands this time. Krylin seemed as though she was rather shaken due to him breaking through her binds. When she raised her staff, Dante took a step back, anticipating her coming attack.

"You've disobeyed me, Dante," Krylin said darkly. A purple aura began to surround her. "You should have known better than to-"

Two loud gunshots interrupted her. Dante immediately saw two bullets lodged into Krylin's staff, chipping the wood slightly. He widened his eyes when he saw Ivan land on the ground silently a few feet away from Krylin's right side.

"Ivan...what are you doing here?" Dante asked the gunslinger, shocked to see him here with him.

The blonde just slightly glanced at Dante before coolly responding, "you're my leader for the time being. I'm under your command so, I have to protect you. Isn't that what soldiers are supposed to do?" He clicked his gun, which had been pointed at Krylin for a while now.

"Ivan, what a pleasant surprise." Krylin turned her head to face him. She smiled and held out her hand. "Are you here to join me again?"

Ivan kept a steely, cold gaze on Krylin. He didn't respond to her at all, to which Krylin didn't seem to take lightly to.

Her smile faded and her expression grew dark. "I see...I didn't think that you were capable of disobeying me as well." Krylin raised her hand and a small dark orb began to form. "I have no use for disobedient pawns like you." The orb grew bigger. "Die, Ivan."

The pirate leaped up into the air, dodging the orb that flew towards him. He watched as it crashed into the earth below him. However, when he looked back up he saw a second orb flying at him. Unprepared for the second attack, Ivan took the hit and flew back into one of the trees. He gagged as the impact made him spit out a small amount of blood. Ivan heard the tree trunk behind him splinter from the force of Krylin's magic.

As Krylin raised her hand to deliver a finishing blow, Dante shot an arrow towards her. She quickly waved her hand and created a small shield which deflected the golden arrow. "Stay out of this, Dante."

Dante pulled his bow back and formed another soul arrow. "Why should I? Are you afraid of accidentally killing me?" He flashed her a cocky grin and shot another arrow at her.

Krylin defended herself by forming another shield from her magic. Before she could aim to cast a spell at him, a bullet just barely grazed her cheek. She turned her head over to Ivan and saw that he was already up on his feet. A little giggle came out of her when she saw him. "I nearly forgot about that wonderful ability of yours, Ivan. Too bad that I couldn't possess y-"

Ivan shot out a series of bullets so quickly that it seemed as though some of the shots were invisible.

The necromancer grinned and lightly tapped the base of her staff on the ground once. In a blink of an eye, she disappeared and then reappeared in a different location.

"If this is all you're capable of, I wonder how you'll be able to defend that precious little cleric of yours," Krylin said teasingly, tossing back her wavy, light purple hair over her shoulder.

Ivan narrowed his green eyes at her and dashed forward at an amazingly fast speed. He raised his gun at her and right when he was in front of her, he squeezed the trigger. However, right when she anticipated his move and created a shield to defend herself again, Ivan disappeared.

"What?" Krylin stepped back in surprise, but as she did, she felt the cold metal of a gun barrel pressed against her bare back. She turned her head slightly and made a motion to attack him with another dark orb. However, before she could do so, she felt Dante's mana closing in on her. "Impossible," she said in a panicked voice as she turned her head. From above, she saw Dante falling down with an arrow readied on his bow.

Both men shot out their attacks at the same time, but at that moment, Krylin disappeared as well.

Dante's arrow struck the ground and after a few seconds, he landed beside it. "We missed," he breathed out, looking around for Krylin.

"Not completely," Ivan muttered. He motioned down to Dante's arrow and the two of them saw that the edge was bloodied. "My bullet got her too. If it didn't, it probably would have been shot inside of you because of how we were angled."

"So then...where did she go?"

"My guess is that she hid herself for now. She's probably injured badly and she's taking the time to heal herself." Ivan paused for a bit. He seemed as though he was contemplating something deeply. "...It's not too late to run away, you know."

"Huh?"

"I don't see why you're here. You have no reason to be."

"Couldn't I say the same for you?"

Ivan looked away and muttered, "I was created to fight for the Aegis anyways. My purpose is being served by me being here. I'm not sure why you're here though. Unless...there's something you're not telling me."

Dante shot Ivan an annoyed glance. "There's nothing _to_ tell." Gently, Dante raised his hand and placed it over the wound that Krylin gave him with her nails. He pulled his hand away and saw his blood staining the black leather of his gloves.

"You don't have anything to heal that?"

"It's fine. It doesn't hurt."

Ivan thought he shouldn't say anymore even though he saw the archer's wound was bleeding quite a bit. He didn't want to annoy Dante anymore than he already did. "We should try to find Krylin. She's good at hiding her mana, but if we're lucky we might be able to find it." The blonde suddenly grew quiet.

The raven haired man was about to ask him what was wrong when he sensed something odd as well. "This...feeling..."

The two of them raised their weapons, ready to attack. Just as they did, dozens of undead soldier surrounded the small clearing they were in. Even though Dante knew that they were both strong enough to hold out on their own with the undead, what worried him greatly was what if Krylin joined the fight as well. It was only him and Ivan. They couldn't possibly defeat all of the undead soldiers and fight with Krylin.

As if addressing his concerns, Dante saw five soldiers drop dead right before his eyes. He turned to look at Ivan, wondering if it was the gunslinger that killed them, however Ivan looked equally confused at what just happened.

"Did you think that I'd let you go off and get yourself killed?"

"That voice..."

Dante spun around and saw the all too familiar face of his friend, Cedric. He stared at the green haired bandit, who walked up to him with a cheeky grin. "...Wh-What are you doing here?" Dante asked.

Cedric chuckled. "What kind of a best friend would I be if I let you go through this by yourself?" He swung his arm that had his Varkit dagger attached to it and let the blood fly off of the clean steel. "I'm going to stay here with you whether you like it or not. I'm sure the same could be said for Xin and Alice."

"Xin...? Alice...? Cedric, don't tell me-"

He stopped when he saw the two warriors coming out from behind the tree cover. Dante shot a look of confusion, first at Alice, who looked away from him nervously. He then switched his gaze over to Xin, silently asking him why Alice was here.

Before any of them could talk, the sound of Ivan's gun brought their attention back to the situation at hand.

"Be careful," Ivan muttered, shooting off bullets at lightning speed. "They're beginning to attack. It seems as though there's more of them than we bargained for." He shifted his feet slightly and the base of his brown leather boots emitted a soft light before he jumped up high into the air. He landed in the middle of the clearing and went for the largest concentration of the undead soldiers.

"Well then," Cedric sighed lightly. He smiled and adjusted the Varkit tighter on his wrist. "I guess it can't be helped."

Dante shot him a slightly annoyed glare. He was still disapproving of the fact that both Xin and Alice were there with them.

The bandit just flashed his disgruntled friend a little boyish grin and disappeared quickly in a blur. The next moment, Dante saw the bandit swiftly cutting through the soldiers with great ease. From behind him, he heard the sound of heavy steel impacting the ground. Dante turned around and saw that Xin had unsheated his Doombringer from the hold on his back.

"I'm not going to break our promise. I _will_ protect Alice," Xin told him before he too, went off to join the fight.

By then, it was just Dante and Alice remaining at that spot. She timidly glanced at him first, then she whispered, "i-it wasn't Xin's fault."

Dante looked at her with a distressed expression on his face. He placed his Arund back into the hold on his back. "That doesn't matter. _Why_ are you here?"

Alice tightly held her polearm in front of her. The heavy weapon made a little sound when she leaned it against her thinly-plated, steel shoulder guards. "I...I'm not here because I'm your martyr. I'm only here because I want to protect you."

"Do you know how dangerous this is? You shouldn't be here."

"I know it's dangerous!" Alice shouted, startling Dante slightly. "That's why I came here! I don't want you to face this by yourself!"

Dante clenched his fists and suddenly took hold of her arms. "Idiot! Why...?" Alice thought his voice sounded as though it was a mixture of sadness and worry. "Why...?" he breathed out harshly. "I pushed you away so many times. I made you cry more times than I could imagine...so then, why did you even come back?"

"I...I already told you why...back in the prisons. Isn't that reason enough?"

Dante saw Alice's cheeks were a bright pink and that she was close to tears. He tightened his hold on her, but not so much that he hurt her. "What are you planning to do...?" he whispered painfully. "I couldn't protect you back then...even though I promised you. What if that happens again...?"

"Back then...?"

Alice widened her eyes when she saw Dante's red eyes filled with remorse.

"When Fleischer hurt you...I felt scared." Dante voice was soft and barely audible, but Alice could still hear him to some degree. "I don't want that to happen again."

Alice felt her heart thump away inside of her when she slowly began to realize the meaning behind Dante's actions the past few weeks. He still cared about her, perhaps even more than he did before. Knowing this, Alice felt the urge to embrace him, but she knew that this wasn't the time for that.

Instead, she gently freed herself from his grip. Alice smiled at him, innocently and warmly. "Don't be so arrogant, stupid Dante. I can take care of myself." She giggled a little bit, sounding childish and sweet. "But...I'm glad that you don't hate me."

Dante noticed small beads of tears on the corners of her eyes. He lowered his head slightly because of this. "Then...why are you crying?" he asked.

Alice smiled and set down her polearm on the ground beside her. "Stupid...people can cry when they're happy too." She gently took hold of his hands and noticed how they looked overworked and slightly bruised.

The archer shot her a slightly embarrassed, annoyed glare. "Idiot...look who's being more arrogant now." He only heard her laughed softly as he felt her trace something lightly into the palm of his hand. Confused, Dante asked her, "what are you doing?"

As if answering him, a small rune lit up in his hand. Alice's own hand started to glow in a similar soft, orange light as well. He heard her whisper lightly, "_hyperbody_."

Once the light faded, Dante felt as if all the fatigue had left his body. It felt as he was healed, but it felt a bit different than when Minna healed him with her magic. Curiously, Dante looked down at the wound on his chest to see if it had healed or improved, but it remained the same.

"Did you heal me?" he asked her.

Alice shook her head and let go of his hand gently. "Do you feel better? I gave your body more energy." She bent down to grab her polearm. "I'm sure that you were fighting all this time. You must've been tired!" Alice laughed sheepishly and awkwardly. She grew nervous when she saw Dante staring at her. "W-We should help the others. We're just standing around in the middle of a battle. It's a bit odd, isn't it?" She did her best to avoid his gaze and hide her blush as she brushed past him. However, before she could rush off into the battle, she felt Dante grab a hold of her arm.

"Alice-" Dante faltered when he saw her wide blue eyes looking back at him curiously. For some reason, he felt his mouth dry up and the words he wanted to say to her, hitch inside of his throat. "I..."

_"I love you."_

"Dante...?" Alice asked, whispering his name.

The raven haired archer gently let go of her. "...It's nothing," he muttered softly. "Just be careful." He flashed a little smile to her and said, "I know you can take care of yourself."

"E-Eh? Oh!...erm...y-yeah!" She was caught off-guard by what he told her. Alice turned away and tried vainly to hide her growing blush as she rushed off to help the others.

Dante stood there and watched her as she helped Xin fight off some of the soldiers.

_"Why couldn't I say it? Why couldn't I tell you?" _

He brought his hand up to his neck and held it there. Silently, he closed his eyes and thought, _"no...it's better this way. We can't be together, even though we like each other." _Dante took his hand away and reached behind him to grab his bow. _"I don't care anymore. I just want Alice to be happy." _

Dante pulled the bow back and a golden arrow materialized on it. He aimed the arrow up towards the dark gray sky. Without much resistance, he shot out the arrow and the sharp object pierced through the air easily. In mere seconds, it vanished in midair.

_"I don't think it's possible for me to give you the happiness you need." _

A stream of shining blue arrows rained down upon the battlefield. The rain of arrows missed Alice and the others, but it cleanly hit each of the undead soldiers in the immediate area. When more came into the clearing, Dante repeated the attack.

_"I don't want to make you sad over what will eventually happen to me." _

The clearing was littered with the bodies of the undead soldiers. The sickening smell of rotting flesh hung in the air, but that was the least of their worries.

"Where's Krylin?" Xin asked to no one in particular. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his gloved hand. He and everyone else were nearly exhausted. The army proved to be much larger than they had hoped for.

"I can't sense her at all," Cedric responded, wiping off his Varkit on the soft grass. "Do you think she's gone?"

"No." Ivan looked around warily. "We've injured her, but that isn't enough for her to call off this whole invasion."

Alice let out a soft sigh as she stabbed her Eviscerator into the ground. She leaned against her weapon and hung her head. The battle took more out of her than she thought.

"Are you alright, Alice?" Xin leaned down next to her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Eh? O-Oh! I'm fine! Maybe just a little bit of a rest." Just as Alice finished her sentence, she heard Minna's voice off in the distance. She wondered if she was hearing things. When she also heard Ada's voice, she knew that she couldn't possibly be hallicinating.

"A-Ada! Please slow down!"

"It's not my fault that you're so slow! Even when I used some of my mana to make you faster, you're still slow!"

"Ada!"

Everyone looked in the direction where they heard the two females' voices and indeed saw them coming out from behind the line of thick trees.

"Ada! Minna!" Alice exclaimed, very surprised to see her friends there with her.

The cleric looked towards Alice and her face instantly brightened up. "Alice!" she cheered happily as she ran over to the warrior.

Before Alice had a chance to speak, Minna leapt forward and grabbed her in a tight hug. "M-Minna?" Alice grew a bit red at Minna's sudden show of affection in front of everyone. She nervously looked around and much to her displeasure she saw reactions from nearly everyone.

"I'm sorry Alice! I didn't know what else to do! I know I shouldn't have left you and Sean back there!" Minna cried out.

Alice felt as if someone was glaring at her and sure enough, when she glanced over to her right she saw Ivan giving her a hateful look. She wondered if the gunslinger was really feeling jealous over the fact that Minna was clinging to her. "M-Minna...you should-"

As Alice struggled to gently pry off Minna, Dante walked over to Cedric, who was looking at the two girls with a sly smile plastered across his face. Dante noticed this and sighed. "I can't believe you. We're in the middle of a battle and you're letting your mind wander off to perverse things."

Cedric took his eyes off the two girls and laughed when he turned to his friend. "I can't help it. Minna and Alice look cute together." He remained oblivious to Dante shooting him deathly glares.

"Whatever. Let's just not drop our guard...as if we hadn't already," Dante muttered. "There's no telling when Krylin will show up."

"Of course, of course! Don't worry about a thing!" The green haired bandit kept a bright, cheery smile on his face, but it didn't last for long. He snuck a glance at Dante and whispered under his breath so that only Dante could hear. "Tell me the real reason why you're doing all this. Not even the oldest Aegis platoon leaders are willing to risk their lives for the Aegis this much."

Dante lowered his red eyes and answered back, "it's complicated."

"It has to do with Krylin, doesn't it?" Cedric locked gazes with Dante. "I don't really know the details of it, but it was Krylin that attacked me during that storm. Not you." He placed his hand over the soft bandages that were wrapped around his stomach. "What does she want from you, Dante...? And tell me the truth."

Dante parted his lips slightly, wanting to tell him, but at the same time he found it hard to do so. He had kept this a secret for so long that he couldn't even properly tell his best friend on what was happening to him. "She-"

A loud explosion prompted to turn everyone's attention over to the other side of the clearing. Dark purple energy swirled around and created a strong wind. The energy waves floated around, eminating from a central point behind the tree cover.

"What is that?" Minna asked, tightly holding onto Alice as the wind whipped and whirled around them.

"It's Krylin...there's no doubt about it," Ivan answered, holding arm up to shield himself from the strong gust. "She's done healing herself. There's no turning back for us now."

The wind finally stopped and the dark purple waves of energy contracted. It felt so errily silent and everything seemed as though it had come to a standstill.

Alice swallowed harshly when she finally saw Krylin stepping out into the clearing, towards them. The necromancer's long wavy, purple hair gently brushed against her hips as she walked. Her skin was so pale that she looked sickly to some degree. This and the sharp contrast that was created with her blood red lips made chills run up and down Alice's spine.

"So...it seems that the two of you brought out some friends," Krylin giggled as she flashed them a crooked smile. "Interesting...this shall be fun." She raised her hand and formed a swirling dark energy orb. Her long, red painted fingernails clicked against each other as she moved them to gather up more energy.

All of them readied themselves by taking hold of their weapons.

Krylin giggled again at this and asked, "who should I attack first...hm?"

There was a thick tension in the air. Everyone was on edge. They didn't know if attacking head-on was a good idea because they weren't sure of Krylin's potential power.

Ada held two steelies in her hands and let out an impatient click of the tongue. "We're doing nothing by standing here." She rushed forth, breaking away from the group.

"Ada!" Alice yelled out. "It's dangerous!"

"It's dangerous just standing there waiting for her to attack us!" the assassin yelled back. She lept into the air when she was a few feet away from Krylin. The necromancer shot out the orb towards Ada while she was in midair, but it missed. Ada disappeared in a blink of an eye and reappeared on the ground in front of Krylin. "Say your prayers," Ada said in a slightly sneering voice before she threw the two steelies directly at the mage.

However, much to her surprise and everyone else's, the two steelies struck an invisible shield. The dome-like shield flashed a dark purple and crackled with energy at the contact of the steelies.

"Ada! Get back! She's too powerful for you alone!" Cedric shouted.

Ada ignored him and jumped back. She flipped in the air once before forming a large Avenger star in her right hand. The multi-colored star brightly shined and swelled with energy as Ada threw it at Krylin. It spun with great force and power, but it faltered once it hit Krylin's shield.

"It's useless," Krylin laughed as Ada landed on the ground. She smirked when she saw a look of great shock on the assassin's face. "You shouldn't try to play with the big girls, sweetie." Flicking her wrist, Krylin created a large energy wave. The wave shot out towards Ada and wrapped around her waist. Before the assassin could free herself, she was flung away almost effortlessly.

"Ada!"

She hit the ground hard, enough to make a small crater in the earth. Her blood spilled on the ground from the harsh impact. Cedric grew panicked when he saw Ada lying there almost lifelessly.

"Please don't worry! I'll heal her!" Minna said, running up to Ada.

Ivan noticed Krylin raising up more waves of dark energy with an evil grin painted across her face. He saw her leering dangerously at Minna.

"Minna!" the gunslinger moved when Krylin shot out the waves.

Minna had already knelt down beside Ada and was starting to heal her when she heard Ivan. She looked up and widened her red eyes when she saw Krylin's attack heading straight for her. Fear gripped her tightly around the throat. There was absolutely no time for her to take her hands away from Ada and conjured up a mana shield to defend herself.

The cleric closed her eyes, bracing for the attack, but when she didn't feel anything she reopened them. "I-Ivan?" she stuttered out when she saw the pirate standing in front of her.

Krylin's energy wave had wrapped around Ivan's arm, the arm that had his gun held out to her.

"Oh?" She grinned and asked, "so...you're willing to sacrifice your life to save her, is that it?" Krylin made a little motion with her free hand and created another wave. That one shot out and wrapped around Ivan's neck tightly. Despite this, the pirate remained unfazed.

"I wonder...how will she react when she sees you losing a limb?"

Krylin moved her hand a little and the wave that held Ivan's arm, pulled slightly.

Ivan heard his bones cracking in his shoulder. Even though his coat wasn't ripped just yet, he could feel his arm slowly being torn off.

Minna trembled as she continued to heal Ada. She looked up at Ivan's shoulder as saw the shoulder area of his coat being painted in a dark red hue. When Krylin pulled even more, Ivan stumbled just a little bit on his feet. Minna felt frightened out of her mind when she saw more blood slowly spreading across his dark gray coat.

"Hm, are you putting on a brave front for her? It must hurt a lot, doesn't it Ivan?" Krylin laughed when Ivan glared at her.

"Ivan, please! Don't-!" Minna suddenly cried out.

Krylin stopped pulling on Ivan's arm. "It seems as though she cares about you a lot, doesn't she? I wonder...if she'll be able to go through with seeing me rip your head off. You may be able to recover yourself, Ivan, but I doubt you could erase what your precious little cleric will see."

Ivan gasped softly when he felt the dark energy wave tighten around his neck. The strength of the grip was so strong that Ivan was already suffocating.

"You know...you can tell me to stop anytime, Ivan. Of course if you do, then I'll attack her before you could defend her again."

The gunslinger felt his torn arm healing itself. He had to wait for it to heal up more for him to use it again.

"Really? You don't want to save yourself? What a pity..." Krylin conjured up another wave, only this time it was sharper and thinner. She shot it out towards him and with great precision, cut off the eyepatch that hid his blind eye. "Foolish Ivan. Very foolish. You know that I'm aware of your only weakness."

Minna widened her eyes fearfully. "No! Ivan-!"

Krylin plunged the sharp wave into the gunslinger's eye. She laughed as he writhed in pain. "Now that you can't recover yourself anymore, I really will kill you this time. Goodbye...Ivan. You were a good servant to me while you lasted."

"No!" Minna screamed out as she took her hands away from Ada. She made a move to stand up and try to save him, but it all happened too quickly.

Xin brought down his Doombringer and tore through the waves of energy holding Ivan. The pirate stumbled on his feet slightly before he fell back. Minna held out her arms and managed to catch Ivan before he hit the ground.

Minna trembled as she looked down at Ivan. She held him tightly. It was almost unbearable to see him in such a state.

Ivan opened up his working eye and looked at her weakly.

"Ivan...?" She felt tears slip out of her eyes. "Ivan..." she cried softly.

The blonde raised his uninjured hand up to Minna's face. He messily wiped away her tears and whispered, "I must really look like a monster right now...don't I?"

Minna widened her eyes and blinked in confusion. When she saw him motioning to his gouged out eye, all Minna could do was shake her head. She felt him gently trace her smooth jaw line. He looked up at her for a while before leaning up to whisper in her ear.

"Minna...please heal me," he said weakly.

Ivan pulled away slightly to look into Minna's eyes. He saw her nodding her head before whispering back, "I will."

* * *

"Hm?" Krylin smiled, but she still looked rather angered by the fact that she was interrupted before she could kill Ivan. "Do you even dare to challenge me?" she asked Xin.

"Is that even a question?" Xin tightly held the hilt of his Doombringer. He let his mana flow through his veins freely as a light blue aura surrounded him. A circular array appeared beneath his feet as the blue aura flared around him. Xin then charged forth, letting out a battle cry.

He swung the heavy sword once and it hit Krylin's magic shield. At the moment his sword clashed with the shield, Alice saw the circular pattern underneath his feet flare up. She noticed that a blue circle with strange patterns inside of it had added itself to the circular pattern's outer shell.

Xin hit the shield again and another orb was added. With each hit, a new orb was added to the pattern beneath his feet. After the fifth time Xin hit Krylin's shield, the blue aura around him burst and expanded.

"The combo's complete," Dante said. He ran forward towards Krylin.

"Eh? Dante! Wait!" Alice tried to chase after him, but Cedric stopped her by blocking her with his arm. "Cedric?"

"The timing has to be precise. It's better to leave this to Dante."

Alice, figuring that she should just watch and see, turned her attention back to the fight. She saw Xin raise his Doombringer over his head and bring it down in a deathly blow. The pure power and force of it created a disturbance in the air. A powerful wind whipped around and Alice struggled to keep an eye on what was happening.

Krylin widened her purple eyes when she saw Xin's sword cracking her shield. The cracks spread slowly over the entire dome shield.

Turning her attention over to Dante, Alice saw that he was off to the side with an arrow positioned to shoot right at Krylin. She realized that the timing was to wait for Krylin's shield to be broken.

"Krylin's certainly unsettled," Cedric commented. "I can feel her mana fluctuating greatly. I'm going to guess that Krylin can't teleport herself nor can she move while she's in that shield. It's one of the drawbacks for such a great and powerful mana shield."

Alice felt her heart racing as Xin nearly broke through the shield. If Dante shot her at the correct time...it could all be over. Krylin would be dead and this dreadful war would finally be over. Finally...

Xin let out one last cry before the shield shattered. "Now!" he shouted.

_Finally..._

Dante aimed the arrow and pulled his bow back the furthest that it could go. He narrowed his red eyes and prepared for the kill shot.

_Finally...we can live in peace..._

Alice felt as if everything was moving in slow motion. She briefly heard Cedric mutter, "something's not right."

_Finally..._

It all happened so fast. Alice swore she heard Cedric suddenly cry out Dante's name. By the time she turned her attention towards the archer, all she could see was the glinstening tip of a sword covered in blood. She froze to the spot when she saw blood on the ground before Dante.

_"Blood...? Why blood...?" _

She trembled when she saw Dante's bow falling to the ground. When the Dark Arund hit the ground, the soul arrow that was strung on it disappeared quickly.

_"Why did you let go...?"_

Alice couldn't stop her shaking breaths when she saw Fleischer standing behind Dante. She saw him with a sword in his hand and when she trailed her eyes across the sword, she saw Dante. He was stabbed cleanly through.

She heard a ringing sound and amongst the ringing sound, she heard Cedric leave her side and run up to Fleischer to attack him. Her breath left her when she saw the marauder pull the sword out from Dante's body. The archer stumbled a bit, struggling to stay on his feet before he fell to the ground.

"...Dante!" she screamed. Alice ran towards him and threw her polearm down. She fell to her knees and quickly brought Dante in her arms. Her hands trembled as she held him. Was this really happening?

Alice felt his warm blood coating her lap. This sent her into a great shock. "D-Dante..." she whispered, her voice trembling.

The archer opened up his eyes weakly. He looked up at her and murmured out, "...Alice..."

"I-I'll call Minna over, okay? I'll get her to heal you and everything will be fine! Just don't-" Alice stopped talking when she felt Dante bring his hand up and gently touch her soft lips.

"It's too late."

"What do you mean? It's not!" she yelled at him, tears spilling out from her eyes. "It's not! So don't say things like that!"

Dante chuckled softly and cupped her now tear-soaked cheek. "I'm such a terrible person...aren't I?" He felt one of her teardrops fall down to his face. It rolled off his own cheek and dropped to the ground. "I'm making you cry again..."

Alice held his hand against her face. The warmth from it made her cry even more. "Stupid..."

He smiled at her. "Alice...I'm sorry. I broke my promise didn't I?"

"Eh?"

"I'm not going to be with you."

"Dante...that's not-"

"Alice, promise me that you'll...find a guy that will make you happy."

"But-"

"Because I couldn't."

The warrior shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "You _did_ make me happy." She cried as she continued to shake her head slowly. "I told you before." Alice felt a lurching feeling in her stomach when she saw Dante starting get weaker. "I don't want anyone else."

"I see," Dante let out a dry chuckle. He smiled gently and whispered to her, "Alice...please forget about me."

"N-No! I can't! I won't-!"

"I want you to be happy. I want you to find a guy that will _really_ make you happy." He caressed her face and murmured, "I just want the girl I love to smile."

"...Eh?"

"I love you, Alice...I mean it. I meant it all the other times I said it too." Dante sighed when he saw more tears stream down her face. He flashed her a dimming smile. "I love you," he repeated.

Alice felt her heart throbbing painfully inside of her because of what he said. She gently tightened her hold on his hand and whispered, "...say it again."

"I...love you."

"Again..."

"I...love...you."

The blue haired girl felt her lips tremble as she felt her breath falter in her throat. She saw Dante's eyelids fluttering open and closed.

"...Again."

Alice swallowed harshly when she saw Dante part his lips slightly, but she didn't hear anything from him. Her hands shook when he closed his eyes.

"Dante...again. Say it again," Alice said in a broken voice. She began to break down in tears when she felt his hand drop from her face. Desparately, Alice kept his hand pressed against her cheek. She closed her eyes and cried as the warmth of his hand began to disappear. "Dante...say it again," Alice asked softly. "I want to hear it. Please Dante..." She wished desparately that she could hear his soothing, low voice utter those words again, but she knew that it was over. She would never hear his voice ever again.

She wept heavily while holding Dante close to her. The true reality hit her that Dante really was gone. He was dead and there was nothing that could ever make him come back.

From behind her, Alice heard the thundering sound of a loud boom. She raised her head up and turned around. To her horror, she saw that nearly everyone was wiped out. Xin lay slumped against a large tree, blood stained the tree trunk where he slid down. In the short moment that Cedric went to fight Fleischer, Alice saw that both of them were unconscious and lying on the ground. The only one that she saw, who wasn't unconscious, was Minna.

Alice felt fear grip her when she saw Krylin looking her way.

"Hm, what a shame," Krylin said lowly. "I had raised him for nearly a year now so that his body would be the host for my soul."

"R-Raised?"

"He probably knew that getting killed would be the only solution to stop me," Krylin giggled. "No matter. I can always find a new host."

Something began to click in Alice's mind. She saw Krylin as the ultimate enemy. It was beyond the hatred she had for her in the beginning. Gently, she laid Dante on the ground and stood up. "So then...if it wasn't for you...Dante would still be alive." Alice moved to grab her polearm.

"That's a rather harsh way of putting it and untrue. You're the one that ultimately killed him, you little wench."

Alice tightly gripped her polearm and let the heavy end of it drag on the ground as she walked up to Krylin slowly.

"You're the one that gave him my potion which caused all of this!" Krylin cackled.

Alice swung her polearm up so that she could grip it with her other hand as well. She raised her head and glared daggers at the necromancer. "Shut up!"

She rushed forth and swung the heavy Eviscerator. Alice grew startled when she hit the same dark dome shield that Krylin had earlier.

"Surprised?" Krylin asked. She smirked and flicked her wrist.

Alice suddenly felt a great blow to her stomach and she flew back a few feet before she landed on the ground.

"Even though it took your friends a long time to break down my shield, it doesn't mean that it takes me a long time to set it up again." Krylin raised her staff at Alice and whispered an incantation.

"Alice! Be careful!" Minna yelled out. She was still healing Ivan to the best of her abilities. "You have to break down the shield again!"

Trembling as she got up, Alice felt as if her whole body was just hit by a freight train. She grunted as she stood up on her feet, but just as she did, Krylin finished her spell.

"Dark energy wave! Multiply!" Krylin shouted. She raised her thin arms up into the air. The shield around her began to grow dark purple waves, a countless number of them. When Krylin brought her arms down swiftly, the waves stood up straight and then shot out towards Alice.

The warrior tried her best to block some of the waves with her weapon, but she was helplessly outnumbered. When one of the waves wrapped around her ankle, another one wrapped around her waist and another one wrapped around both of her arms. Immediately, Alice was brought up from the ground and then roughly thrown by the waves.

She crashed onto the ground, creating a bit of a crater.

"Alice!" Minna cried out. "Alice! Get up!" The cleric widened her eyes when she didn't see Alice moving at all. Fear struck her when Krylin laughed loudly. Her cackling laugh sounded as if it was echoing all through the forest.

"With such weak and primary skills, did she actually think that she could defeat me?" A devious smile crept across Krylin's face when she saw Alice slowly getting up. "Oh? So you can still stand, can you?"

Alice panted heavily, trying to cope with the pain she felt.

_"No...I can't stop now just because I'm tired." _

She tightly gripped her blue polearm. A few strands of her blue hair got loose from the hair clip she used to keep her hair up. The loose strands tickled her face when a slight wind blew over the small battlefield.

Right after the wind stopped, Alice charged forth and attacked again. She hit Krylin's mana shield over and over, but it seemed as though nothing was happening.

"You're just attacking me blindly. That won't do you any good," Krylin teased, watching Alice trying to break her way in.

"Shut up!" Alice yelled.

"Could it be that your _that_ distraught over what happened? I see that you're still crying."

The spearman trembled at Krylin's words. "I-I'm not!"

"Such juvenile words. You're still a little girl. No wonder you cannot defeat me." The necromancer chuckled as she raised her staff. "You're really just terribly frightened about dying, aren't you? I wonder if you really do _love_ Dante that much if you aren't willing to take that risk for him."

"That's not true-!" Alice suddenly felt a sinking feeling inside of her. Before she knew it, she was airborne and then when crashing into the ground again.

"You think so?" Krylin asked, holding out her hand that had shot out the powerful spell used to throw Alice. "You'll never be able to defeat me with such cheap attacks."

Alice felt her arms wobble as she tried to get back up, but it was impossible. She coughed painfully and blood fell from her mouth. Her body felt as if it ached everywhere. These aches caused her so much pain that she silently fell to the ground again. She could hear Minna's voice calling out to her, but for some reason, the cleric's voice sounded so distant.

_"If only I was stronger..." _

She closed her eyes slowly, feeling all of her energy leave her. It was hopeless now. Alice felt as if she was going to be laying there forever. Her body refused to move because of the searing pain.

"Alice...!" Minna frightfully turned towards Krylin and saw the necromancer laughing softly at Alice's downfall.

"Foolish little girl." Krylin looked towards Minna and grinned, "all of your allies are done for. Are you willing to attack me now? Hm...given that you're a healer though...it won't make much of a difference if you attack me anyways."

The strawberry blond took her hands away from Ivan and gently laid him down on the ground. She mustered up all of her courage as she got up from the ground. However, before she could walk anywhere, a burst of light blue energy suddenly flared from Alice.

"Alice?" The cleric widened her eyes when she saw the warrior getting back up on her feet. She thought for sure that Alice was down for the count. "Alice! Please don't strain yourself! I...I can attack Krylin-" Minna looked extremely confused when she didn't hear or see Alice responding to her at all. "Alice...?"

It was strange as Alice continued to ignore Minna. It was almost as if she was completely unresponsive.

"Hm? You want to challenge me again? You certainly managed to make your mana stronger, but I wonder if that's enou-" Krylin stopped when she saw Alice suddenly rushing towards her. In a split second, Alice was right in front of her shield. A powerful surge of energy consumed the warrior and it was concentrated on the shield.

"That's impossible!" Krylin cried out when she saw a small crack beginning to form. "Someone as weak as you can't possibly-!"

Alice swung her polearm again. It clashed with the shield and cracked it even more.

From where she was standing, Minna worriedly looked at the fight. She saw Alice's mana flucuating and flaring almost uncontrollably. "Such power," she whispered out. Minna saw Alice hit Krylin's shield again and this time, she saw a light blue dragon starting to take its form from the mana.

When Krylin saw that her shield wouldn't last that much longer, she raised her staff and shouted, "enough!" She shot out a few waves and captured Alice in them. She was then thrown away.

The mage struggled to keep her sanity. She was clearly shaken because of Alice's sudden, unexpected power. It served her no good when she saw Alice getting back up again, her mana flaring up to an even bigger size. Krylin widened her eyes and stepped back when she saw a dragon's head being formed from the mana surrounding Alice. It snaked around Alice once before it reared its head.

"No..."

It let out a loud, ear piercing roar that seemed to shake the whole forest. Minna covered her eyes at the loud sound and fell to the ground. She raised her head to look at Alice again and saw red thorns coming out from the ground underneath the spearman. At the same time, Minna saw a red dragon being formed from Alice's mana. The thorns grew and wrapped around Alice's legs and continued to make its way up her body.

Even though some of the thorns were wrapped around parts of her body that had armor, they started to cut away at the areas where she didn't have armor. They cut through the black, skin-tight clothes Alice wore underneath her armor and drew copious amounts of blood. Seeing this, Minna shouted, "Alice! Please stop! You're hurting yourself!"

Again, Alice remained unresponsive.

"Alice!"

The two dragons that Alice had created were now drawing their heads back. When they let out a thundering roar, Alice charged forward. She raised the heavy weapon over her head and brought it down in a powerful swing.

Much to Minna's great surprise, Krylin's shield broke immediately. The shiny pieces of the shield shattered and fell to the ground.

Krylin barely had time to react when Alice attacked her again. The underhanded swing Alice did, created a large gash in the earth before she hit Krylin.

The mage managed to create a weak shield before she was hit, but she was still injured by Alice's attack. Krylin held her stomach and gasped. Blood came out of her mouth and fell to the ground. Her weak, sickly body was already starting to fail her.

"You little wench..." Krylin glared at Alice, but her expression quickly changed into one of surprise. Finally, she settled on a little smirk. "I see...you're not really awake, are you?"

Alice's blue eyes were glowing softly. She had a blank stare and an equally blank expression. It seemed as though she was in a trance.

"Your power is no match for mine if you can't control it while you're fully conscious." Krylin smirked as Alice readied herself to attack again. "Hopefully, the next time we meet, you'll fight me fairly."

Alice ran forth to swing her polearm at Krylin again, but the mage tapped her staff on the ground and quickly disappeared. As if in response to this, Alice's mana grew stronger. The two dragons she created were growing at an alarming rate.

"Alice! Alice, it's over! You don't have to attack her anymore! Krylin's gone!" Minna shouted. "We need to escape, right now!"

The blue haired girl ignored Minna. She was still in her trance.

Xin and the others began to wake up at the feeling of Alice's powerful mana. The crusader cracked open his dark blue eyes and groggily looked at Alice. It took him a while for his vision to clear up, but he eventually got to see her. "Alice..." He saw the dragons dancing around her and the thorns that were cutting away at her skin continuously.

He stood up, steadying himself before he slowly walked up to Alice. Xin grabbed his Doombringer and slid it back into the hold on his back. When he got closer to her, he could just feel the strong energy around her.

"Alice...Alice, it's over," he whispered.

The spearman didn't even glance at him. Xin went around to stand in front of her. When he took a look at her face, he saw tears were running down her cheeks. "Alice, I know you're sad, but...please stop this. You're hurting yourself...Dante wouldn't have liked that."

As if Xin said the magic words, he saw the two dragons receeding. The mana that surrounded Alice disappeared and the thorns that were digging into her skin, shattering into nothingness. The glowing around her stopped and at that moment, Alice dropped her polearm.

Xin caught her as she fell forward. He held her tightly in his arms. He could tell she had fallen unconscious. "It's over, Alice...it's over," he whispered, gently stroking the top of her head. Xin brought her up into his arms and bent down to grab her polearm. All of a sudden, the ground began to shake almost violently.

"What's happening?" Minna asked as Xin ran up to her.

"I have no idea..."

"...The World Tree." Cedric said as he slowly limped over to them. He held his injury, which had opened back up again. "It's being threatened because of this battle. It's trying to restore balance."

"It exists?" Xin sounded surprised. "I thought it was a legend."

"The World Tree is in the deepest parts of Sleepywood. It controls everything on Victoria Island, it also allows it to be afloat in the sky." Cedric grunted as he went over to Ada. He picked her up and muttered, "we need to get to Ellinia. We're dead if we missed the last ship."

"We don't have time to get back. Along with this earthquake, it's impossible."

"M-Maybe not..." Minna squeaked out. She hesitantly reached into the bag that was strapped around her waist and pulled out a beautiful, crystal-like rock. It sparkled in her hand as she held it out. "I...I'm still learning on perfecting this skill...but it's worth a shot, isn't it?"

She wrapped her hands around the stone, as if she were praying, and brought her hands up to her lips. Minna whispered quickly, making it sound as if she was saying something incoherent.

"Ellinia!" she shouted just as the rock brightly shined in her hands. Promptly, she let go of the rock and it floated up into the air. It let out a burst of bright light, to which everyone had to shield their eyes. It was blinding, but when they opened their eyes again, they all saw a large wooden frame with the picture of Ellinia. It looked glassy, as if they were looking at Ellinia through a mirror or a body of water.

"Please go through quickly!" Minna shouted over the loud rumbling. She carefully managed to get Ivan onto his feet and hold him up by his arm.

Once all of them passed through the door, it swirled and vanished completely. The ground split and began to form huge cracks. Victoria Island was about to be restructured from the ground up...

* * *

Alice felt her hair gently tickling her face. A light cool breeze washed over her and she found it comforting. When she opened her eyes slightly, she vaguely saw Xin looking down at her.

"Alice? Are you alright?"

She blinked a few times. "W-Where are we?"

"We're on the ship. We made it back just in time before it departed Ellinia. We're on our way to Orbis now."

Alice, still a bit dizzy over what happened to her previously, stared up at the night sky. She finally sat up a little bit in Xin's lap and looked around. There were many people on the deck of the ship, each of them sitting close to their belongings and their loved ones. Alice saw Minna tending to everyone else's injuries.

"Where's...-?"

"Huh?"

Alice looked at Xin and asked, "where's Dante...?"

"Dante's...not here, Alice. You don't remember? He-"

The warrior shook her head and slowly got up to her feet. "No...no...he's not. He's not dead. He's alive. I know he is." She stumbled over to the edge of the ship. She leaned over the railings and tried to look back to Victoria Island. From where she stood, she could only see the island far away in the distance. "Dante!" she suddenly shouted.

The people around her looked at her strangely as Alice continued to shout his name.

"Alice! Alice! He's gone!" Xin said, trying to get Alice away from the railing.

"No he's not! Dante can't be dead!" She felt tears pooling at the rims of her eyes. "He's alive! He's alive and he needs my help!" Alice tried to shake Xin off of her, but he was too strong. Finally, she gave up and leaned again him. Alice cried heavily into his chest. She knew that he was right. After all, she had Dante die right in her arms. Even though she knew this, she wanted to deny it. It was much too disheartening to know that the man she loved, was now gone.

* * *

The tremors stopped and all of Victoria Island was split and cracked. Many of Krylin's troops lay dead, scattered around the forest. It was almost completely silent. There were no monsters roaming around and nearly no signs of life were there.

In the clearing where Alice and the others fought Krylin, the ground was cracked and split, but it still remained in a somewhat "good" condition.

A single, lone woman walked through the scattered bodies of the fallen undead soldiers. Her red painted lips curled into a little smile as she walked closer to the fallen archer.

"So...you're still willing to live?" Krylin asked as she looked down at Dante. She knelt down and held her hand over his head. A light purple aura surrounded her hand instantly and once she touched his forehead, Krylin chuckled. "...I guess I'll have to thank that little wench the next time I see her. The spell she casted on you saved your life."

Gently, Krylin trailed her hand down and pulled at his torn white shirt. The piece of weak fabric ripped in half, revealing his clean stab wound.

"Don't worry Dante...I'll heal you." Krylin held her hand over the wound and began healing him.

"...You'll live."

* * *

**_End of Aegis, Part 1_**

_2009 - 2011_

* * *

**A/N **_DONE! (With part one that is) _

_I'm eternally grateful to my readers! And especially grateful to those that have reviewed me consistently over the course that I was writing this! Thank you all! You've been a great crowd! _

_As for the sequel, it will answer and clear up some of the things that I have mentioned in this last chapter. Topics such as, the girl that Ivan fought, more information about the "World Tree", etc. There will be new characters added in, but nearly all the old characters will be coming back. (Except for the ones that died in this story) _

_Part 2 of Aegis will be longer and I'm going to work on putting in more effort to my writing. Speaking of that, I'm going to be slowly going back to the older chapters (probably the chapters before chapter 12) and rewriting them. I wrote so...eh...back then. _

_I was actually writing the first chapter of Part 2 while I was writing this chapter. So...the plan is to release the first chapter in the middle of August. If not, then I'll release it on the first day of September. I'm taking a little vacation with my family and I'm going to be taking a little bit of a break from writing Aegis. _

_So then, hope you guys are having an amazing summer so far! See you guys in Part 2 ! _

(Fillers and additional supplementary chapters will be posted on here over the course of the next few days)


	33. Extra: FAQs

**FAQS**

_(Frequently Asked Questions by people who have read this fanfic)_

_Unfortunately, this isn't another chapter. This is just where I answer some questions people (who have read Aegis) asked me over the course of two years that I was working on it. Let's get started shall we?  
_

* * *

**- How did you get inspired to write this?  
**_Well...truth be told. I really got influenced by two popular anime series, Bleach and Soul Eater. I'm a bit surprised that no one actually mentioned them and instead they continued to tell me I "copied" shitty anime series like Naruto. -insert obnoxious laughter- _

_But yeah, I got the platoon leader/martyr idea from Bleach. (Captain/Vice-Captain shiz and whatnot) I thought they were cool. /happyface_**  
**_Aside from all that, I actually wrote a story using main characters that looked like Dante and Alice. I never posted it anywhere because it was just a bad train wreck with no plot whatsoever. I'm not going to mention what their names were back then because the names just sound really stupid now. But I will mention that the "previous Alice" was an assassin, not a spearman. _

_As for the romance parts, I actually do read a lot of romance mangas. *cough* So, I got influenced by many of them. Maybe the two that I got influenced by the most is Hadashi de Bara wo Fume and Koukou Debut._

**- So what came first? The drawings or the story?  
**_I wrote this story first before I started drawing my characters. I like drawing so I thought, why not? I want to breathe some life into these dear characters of mine. Maybe my one true goal in the near future is to start making comic pages of each chapter from the beginning. _

**- Do you listen to music while you write?  
**_Not really. I tend to listen to a variety of songs and my iTunes is very random on what it decides to play for me. I just cannot write a sad romantic scene with some upbeat, pop song playing in the background. It ruins the mood completely._

**- How did you come up with some of the names?  
**_Well...some of the characters have names that mean something. Like Dante's last name means "archery" in Japanese and Xin's name means "heart" in Chinese and his last name is a double-edged, straight sword used in China, 2500 years ago. I like to give my characters names that fit their personality/jobs. For Timm Fleischer, his last name means "butcher" in German and he's a character that likes to slice things up. (As evident from his interrogation techniques.) _

**- ****Did you base any of the characters on real Maplers?  
**_No I didn't. All of the characters are based off my own imagination. _

**- How did you manage to finish this story? I can't finish any stories I write!  
**_This will probably sound weird to some of you, but I don't give a crap. _

_I'm only the medium that presents this story to you guys. Quite honestly, Dante and Alice are screaming at me inside of my head to make me tell their story to you guys. They're quite persistent you know? It really wasn't my intention to write a sequel either, but Dante and Alice insist that their story isn't finished yet. So, until they're satisfied, I will continue to write their story and share it to you guys. _

_To me personally, all of my characters are "alive." They're real people that just live inside of my head. I just got attached to them, so it'd be heartless of me to ignore their pleas.  
_

**- So...what couple do you like in your story?  
**_I'm not sure to be honest. I kind of like all of them, but if I really had to choose one pairing it would be Dante and Alice. __I'm starting to warm up to Xin and Rose as well. _

**- Who's your favorite character?  
**_I'm honestly not quite sure about this one either. I like all of my characters. (Yes, including Timm and Krylin)_

_Again, if I REALLY had to choose, probably Dante and Nackt. I like writing scenes with them in it._

**- Does Rose like Dante "romantically?"  
**_No she doesn't. She only likes him as if he were her own, real brother. The same goes for Dante. They aren't romantically related._

**- Is Cedric gay?  
**_Ah yes, the all encompassing question on everyone's mind. _

_No he is not. He's just a flirt and a huge playboy that acts the way he does around Dante. _

**- I don't understand the Aegis rankings?  
**_I know it wasn't that clear in this story, even though the title reads "Aegis." So, I will try to clarify it here. _

_The highest rank in the Aegis is the position Athena and the other three job instructors are in. The rank below that is platoon leader, which is what Dante and Cedric are ranked as. Then below 'platoon leader' it is the reconnaissance, where Xin and Rose were ranked. Finally, below the reconnaissance are the martyrs and then it is the regular foot soldiers.__ Only platoon leaders have a flame insignia tattooed on them and reconnaissance members don't have any tattoos since they mainly work undercover. _

**- What is the sequel going to be about?  
**_Brief overview time!:_

_It takes place 3 years after where the first story left off. Alice and the others all kind of "separated" and went their own ways around Ossyria. Alice lives in Orbis with her brother, Sean. She believes Dante isn't dead so she continues her search for him._

_Well...that's all the information I could give you without giving away too many spoilers._

**- Why did you decide upon the title "Aegis?"  
**_Pay attention class..._

_I wanted to name the "organization" that fought against Krylin to have a nice name. (Obviously, like every writer does.) I also wanted a name that meant something significant. I thought of the word, "defend," thought it was too plain, went to a thesaurus, looked it up and underneath it I saw the word "aegis." It sounded pretty nice to me. _

_So I looked it up on the internet and __saw that the Aegis was also the "divine" shield for Zeus and Athena in mythology. Naturally, I thought of Athena Pierce and figured, "hey...she'll run the Aegis. The whole organization is meant to defend after all." So I guess technically, speaking...the "Aegis" is Athena's shield. Both in my story and in mythology. Weird how that worked out. :D_

* * *

_Well...that's it for now. That's most of the questions that I've been asked by either you guys or by some of my friends irl that I showed this story to. _

_Hopefully this clears up some confusion some of you guys might have had with this story. _

_And thank you to those that had reviewed the last chapter so far! I really enjoyed the fact that you guys enjoyed it! I was actually hoping that a few "new faces" would come out and review since it WAS the last chapter of this story and I know alot of different people read this story. (I can see the hits and unique visitors, guys.) Oh well, I guess people who don't review, just never review at all. However, I thought I should just mention this little tidbit of information..._

**More reviews = faster updates **

_Anyways, the first filler that I'll post will feature some...genderbending fun~ Female!Dante x Male!Alice anyone? _**  
**


	34. Extra: Genderbent

**A/N Some wholesome, genderbending fun *A*  
**

**Aegis  
**

**Extra Chapter: Alt. Universe  
**

**(Chapter 1: The Beginning)  
**

"Hurry up, Alex! You're so slow!"

"Don't rush me Adrian! I'd like to see you run with a giant polearm strapped to your back!"

Adrian ran faster while laughing at his blue haired friend, who was lagging behind. "You'd better hurry or else you'll miss the final examination!"

"Oh shut up!" Alex yelled out after him, finding the situation less than amusing. He was relieved when Adrian finally stopped running and looked up at the giant clocktower. "Why did we stop here?" Alex asked, catching his breath.

After pausing for a brief moment, Adrian turned to his blue haired friend and grinned, "can you believe it? If we pass this examination, we'll be in the Aegis! We'll be able to serve with the elite!" The assassin let out a boyish laugh and swept aside the long bangs that completely covered one of his eyes.

Alex couldn't help, but smile at his friend's enthusiasm. "I guess so. I could hardly sleep last night! Finally, we might be able to put an end to this war!" He smiled up at the clocktower, his dark blue eyes shining with a newly found confidence. When he turned to Adrian, he widened his eyes when he saw his friend already halfway down the street.

The black haired assassin grinned as he turned around. "You'd better hurry or else I'm getting there first!"

In complete disbelief, Alex stomped his foot down and shouted out after him, "that's not fair!"

* * *

"This is fucking stupid!" Adrian shouted as he gave a wooden barrel next to him a strong kick. It splintered from the impact.

"W-Well...maybe they were right. They do know what's best for our skill level." Alex smiled nervously when he saw his friend flash him an annoyed glare. "He-Hey! At least we have decent looking partners!" He pointed to the photo in Adrian's right hand.

Adrian glared at the woman in his photo and muttered, "she looks like an airhead to me." He looked around and just by chance, he spotted her off the side of the road with a few boys. She was obviously flirting with them since she twirled her green hair around her index finger while smiling coyly at them. "There she is. Cera, dagger master. More like a flirt to me," Adrian huffed as he stormed over to her.

Alex watched as his friend pulled the green haired girl aside and immediately starting to scold her. He laughed slightly and smiled at the rather comical scene unfolding in front of him. When the wind stirred gently, it prompted Alex to look at his own photo of the platoon leader he was assigned to.

He walked along the road slowly, not sure what to make of the woman in the photo. She had long, onyx black hair and fair skin. He didn't know if it was because she was glaring or if it were her red eyes that made her look rather scary. He wasn't sure if he could get along with someone like her. "Well...I haven't met her yet. Maybe..._hopefully_ she won't be too rude personality-wise."

* * *

"This is hopeless." Alex staggered down the street. Nightfall had already reached Henesys and he couldn't find any clue as to where his platoon leader was.

"I'm disappointed."

The blue haired warrior turned around quickly and released his polearm from its hold. He held it tightly and asked, "wh-who's there?"

"This is fantastic, my martyr's clueless and hostile."

Alex narrowed his eyes down the dark street and finally saw the figure of a woman walking up to him. He froze when he saw her red eyes glowing from the moonlight shining down on them. "U-Uhm...are you-?"

"Danielle Kyudo," the woman finished for him. "You can put away your weapon now. I have no intentions on fighting someone as weak as you." Her heeled black leather boots made a little sound as she turned away.

Alex felt slightly annoyed with how arrogant and prideful his platoon leader was. "Excuse me?" He flinched when he saw her glancing at him up and down.

"They could've given me someone more good looking."

"Do you have a problem with me?" Alex shouted in disbelief. He didn't know how someone could be as rude as her. He felt slightly self-conscious when he saw her looking him over again.

"Hm...and maybe someone that isn't so girly."

Alex couldn't believe what he was hearing. Anger boiled up inside of him and he was blinded by it. He was so blinded that he ignored the fact that she was a girl and grabbed her by the either side of her black coat. "Don't just think that you could insult me because you're a platoon leader. I'm your martyr and if you keep insulting me, I'll-"

"You'll what? Not protect me?" Danielle scoffed and slapped his hands away. "Don't joke around with me, idiot. I don't need a martyr, especially one as weak and unmanly as you."

* * *

**(Chapter 4: Understanding)**

"Do you want to stay here for the night?" Alex asked when they reached the front doorsteps of his house. He grew a bit embarrassed with what he just asked her, but he still held out on his offer.

"What?"

"You could stay here for tonight. I don't mind and I'm sure my little sister won't mind either."

Danielle widened her red eyes slightly, but quickly narrowed them. "Are you being nice just because I admitted that I consider you my partner?" She sounded rather hostile.

Alex quickly shook his head. "N-No! Of course not! It just...looks like you don't want to go back to your home yet." Not wanting to sound too forward, Alex added in, "I-I'm not forcing you to stay at my house or anything!"

_"Maybe if I get to know her better...she'll open up to me. Perhaps she'll even start to act nicer..."_

The black haired woman scoffed lightly and looked up at the night sky. "I don't have a home. I live at the barracks with the other people in the Aegis without homes."

"Oh...but...what about your family?" Alex flinched when she simply ignored him and turned away. He felt as if he struck a bad nerve with her with his question. "S-Sorry," he stuttered out. When the spearman looked up to face her, he already saw her walking away.

Sighing, Alex tilted his head back, allowing his blue bangs to fall off the sides of his face. "Well...I tried."

* * *

**(Chapter 16: Back to the Basics)**

"What "rest?" No on else seems to be resting," Danielle snapped out. "Everyone else is out doing useful quests while we get sent to the Academy to teach little brats!"

"You used to be one of those _brats_ too, you know. Frankly, I still think you are," Alex replied, knowing that he was going to get some sort of snappy remark from the archer. He snuck a glance at her, but was caught.

Danielle looked up at him and narrowed her red eyes. "Don't tell me you're okay with all this. Even you have to admit that this is a ridiculous assignment."

"Well, we can't really do anything about it anymore. Ares doesn't seem like he wants to take back what he said."

Danielle let out a frustrated sigh and turned a corner sharply. "Whatever," she muttered under her breath. When Alex followed her closely, she spun around, almost causing the archer to bump into her. "Quit following me. You're so annoying. Just..." She sighed heavily again and told the blue haired warrior, "I'm going for a walk..._alone._"

Alex huffed as he watched his platoon leader walk away. "Fine! Leave and go sulk by yourself! You're putting a damper on my mood anyways!"

"Alex...? Alex!"

The spearman turned around at the sound of the familiar voice and instantly, he felt happiness replace his anger when he saw who it was. "Xia! I...Is that really you? I thought-"

"You'd never see me again?" Xia asked with a slight giggle. Her lush black locks seemed to bounce as she leaned forward towards Alex. When she looked up at him, her expression immediately turned into one of concern. "Eh? Did I come at a bad time? You seem a bit angry..."

"Ah? N-No! Of course not! Well...kinda...I guess. I just got into a fight with my partner. Nothing big," Alex laughed sheepishly.

"With your platoon leader?"

Alex nodded, slightly embarrassed.

Xia furrowed her brow in thought, then finally she took hold of his hand. "I know just the cure for a situation like this!" she cheered.

"Eh?"

* * *

**(Chapter 17: Various Feelings)**

"She seemed intelligent while she was helping you with those stances, but I really doubt it."

"What...?" Alex turned to face the female archer.

Danielle seemed indifferent as she walked up to him. "only an idiot wouldn't have noticed you acting like a dumb, lovestruck teenager in front of her. Well, seeing as how she still acts like a clueless airhead around you, I guess she really is one-"

The sharp sound of a slap rang through the air.

Her red eyes widened slightly as she felt the burning sensation of Alex's slap on her cheek.

Alex was surprised at what he had done to her. This was the first time he's actually ever hit a girl, but he didn't regret it. "Don't you dare...insult Xia. Don't act so arrogantly for no reason! Xia is a much better person than you ever were!"

Danielle turned her head slightly and saw his immensely hurt expression. "I...I didn't mean to-"

"Just...leave me alone."

"Alex..."

"Just leave me alone! Don't you get it? Get out and stay out of my life! I don't want some arrogant bitch as my platoon leader!"

Before Danielle could stop him, she saw him run away. She tightly clenched her fists and felt anger and annoyance bubble up inside of her. When she reached her breaking point, she let out a frustrated yell and punched a nearby tree. Ignoring the pain shooting through her body, Danielle fell to her knees and grit her teeth. "Damn it...why can't I get it right?" She raised her bloody hand and clutched at her onyx black hair. "What the hell's wrong with me, Alex?"

* * *

**(Chapter 22: Relations)**

"I heard that you were taken to the infirmary. Is everything alright?"

Danielle felt the cool night breeze wash over her. Her black bangs gently tickled her face. She didn't look at Ryan as the redhead took a seat beside her. "I just got a little cold."

Ryan smiled gently at Danielle and whispered, "you know you're a terrible liar, Danielle?" He noticed her growing irritation and so, he backed off from the question. "Well, it doesn't matter. I shouldn't pry into your life." Ryan lowered his head slightly to look at the dancing fireflies in the grass patch before them. "You used to tell me everything though," he sadly whispered.

The archer felt a bit of guilt as she turned towards him. "Ryan, it's not like I...well it's just that-" she stammered, trying to find the right words.

Ryan laughed suddenly, surprising Danielle. "I know, I know. We're so busy with our own lives that we barely have time to talk. It's fine Danielle."

She lowered her gaze and turned away from him. Ryan noticed this and laughed again. "Don't look so depressed about it!" He messed up her hair slightly. "Okay?"

Blushing, Danielle fixed her hair and mumbled, "fine."

"That's a good girl," he scooted closer to her and gently pulled her into a hug. "You'll always be my cute little sister no matter what."

* * *

**A/N **_Gosh, Alice calls Dante so many bad names, but it sounds "fine." Yet, when I tried to transcribe it for this genderbending session, it sounds so crude and mean. "Alex" would constantly be calling "Danielle" a bitch. (Even though that's how she acts.) _

_Oh god...and the slapping scene. It sounds so violent when Male!Alice slaps Female!Dante, but it's not that bad when Alice slaps Dante. _

_Anyways, hope you guys liked this short little thing. Sorry if some of the genderbent names were really crappy. I just wrote down the first thing that came to mind. By the way... _

_Alice = Alex  
Dante = Danielle  
Cedric = Cera  
Ada = Adrian  
Xin = Xia  
Athena = Ares  
Rose = Ryan_

_For those of you that gets easily confused._

_Another filler is on it's way! The next filler will be... "What if Dante and Alice met each other when they were just kids?"  
_


	35. Extra: Bandages

**A/N **_Only the female readers might understand this chapter. _

**Aegis**

**Extra Chapter: Bandages**

* * *

He could never understand them. These strange creatures called "women."

Dante didn't consider himself to be so straight-laced that he knew nothing about the opposite sex. However, when he compared himself to his best friend, Cedric, he began to wonder if he really was _too _straight-laced.

But could he really help it?

He wasn't interested in dating. He wasn't interested in "learning" about the wonders (as Cedric described it) of the female body. Plus, it wasn't like he was even curious about the subject matter...or was he?

Recently, he began to witness a certain change in his martyr. By change, he meant sudden changes in her mood.

One minute she would be smiling at him and the next minute she would be irritated with him. Then, whenever he insulted her in response to her irritation, she was break down into tears. To be honest, it was tiring to deal with this since it was so sudden.

"I don't know what the hell's wrong with her," Dante grumbled. He looked at Cedric and narrowed his eyes. "You should know what's wrong with her, shouldn't you?"

"Eh? Me? Why me?"

"I thought you knew everything there was to girls."

Cedric let out a tired sigh and finally a little confident smile made its way across his face. Immediately, Dante began to wonder if he made a mistake in asking for his friend's advice.

"Listen here, Dante." Cedric threw his arm over the archer's shoulders. "You've made the right choice coming to me."

"Shut up," Dante scoffed as he hit his friend's arm away. "Just tell me why Alice is acting like that."

"Let's see...she doesn't usually have mood swings, right?"

"Get to the point."

Cedric huffed and pouted. "Fine then. She's probably..." He motioned for Dante to lean forward. When the archer did, apprehensively, Cedric whispered into his ear.

"...What?" Dante snapped out once he listened to what Cedric said to him. "That's it?"

"What do you mean "that's it"?"

"Why did you have to whisper it to me? It's not like it's something embarrassing."

The bandit looked at Dante as if he were slightly crazy. "Did you listen to what I said?"

"Of course I did," Dante scoffed. "Doesn't that happen to everybody? Forget it, I'll sort this out myself."

* * *

"I should probably apologize to him," Alice mumbled. She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. "But...he should know what I'm going through...right? Dante's not _that_ clueless about girls...right?" Her voice trailed off as she began to wonder if he really was clueless.

Lightly, she pinched the hem of her blue sundress. "Stupid Dante," she grumbled out. "You didn't have to insult me just because I got a_ little_ angry..."

Suddenly, there was a soft knocking sound at the front door.

Not expecting any visitors, Alice curiously got off of her bed and went downstairs. She slowly went over to the front door and opened it up just a crack. "Who is it...?" Her blue eyes widened when she saw that it was Dante.

"Dante?"

He avoided her gaze as he muttered, "I...I forgive you."

"Eh?"

Dante faced her with a slightly embarrassed look on his face. Alice assumed that it was because he wasn't used to apologizing or anything like that to some degree. "What are you saying "eh?" for?" he muttered as he reached into one of the pockets on his coat. He pulled out a full roll of white bandages, which confused Alice greatly. "Here."

Alice stared at the bandage roll for a while before she asked him, "u-uhm...why are you giving me this?"

He shot her a disgruntled look and shouted, "don't you use bandages when you're hurt?"

"Huh? But I'm not hurt anywhere..."

"We-Well...I asked Cedric why you were acting all moody this morning and he said that it was because you were bleeding. I don't really know why that would cause you to act so irrationally, but...here." He took her hand and placed the bandages in her palm.

Alice looked at him, still confused, until she finally understood what it was that he was getting at. A slow blush worked its way across her face.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" Dante scoffed, trying not to be too embarrassed. "Do you need help putting on the bandage or something?"

"H-Help...?"

"Fine then. Just tell me where you're bleeding and I'll-"

"...St-Stupid Dante!" Alice threw the bandage roll at him, blushing profusely. She slammed the door in his face after that. Never before had she experienced such an embarrassing conversation such as that.

Dante, on the other hand, was annoyed and confused at what she had just done. All he wanted to do was show some gratuity and she rewards him with a bandage roll to the head. He stood there in front of the door in silence for a while before he yelled at her. "Idiot! What are you being so ashamed about? Doesn't everyone bleed? It's not like it's so embarrassing that you can't even talk to me about it!"

Once again, Dante could never understand women. After this, he told himself that he would never try to figure out women. They were just too complicated for him.

* * *

**A/N **_I know that was random. _

_Reviews for the last chapter please!_


	36. Extra: Innocent Days

**Aegis**

**Extra Chapter: Innocent Days**

They picked on him again.

Tears continued to flow out of his round, red eyes as he sat there on the forest floor crying silently to himself. Dante knew that he couldn't let anyone see him crying. Even his best friend Cedric.

Dante hiccuped as he brought his small hands up to his eyes. The voices of those that taunted him still echoed in his mind. He wanted nothing more, but to get mad at them and to fight back. However, that was all wishful thinking. What really would happen is that he would get picked on and all he could do was cry about it. He couldn't help it. The tears would start falling out of his eyes before he could retaliate.

He didn't want anyone seeing him cry because he didn't want pity. He had enough of it already from the adults that knew of the disappearance of his parents.

"Oh poor thing," they'd mutter amongst themselves.

Dante pulled his knees towards his chest and sniffled. It even hurt to cry now.

"What are you doing here by yourself?" a sweet voice from behind him asked.

Startled, Dante turned his head quickly. He saw a small girl, probably a few years younger than him, standing a few feet away from him. Her big blue eyes were widened in curiosity.

"Are you lost?" she asked, walking over to him slowly as if she were approaching a timid animal.

Dante hadn't prepared for this. He didn't even think that anyone, let alone a girl, would be out in this forest by herself. Instead of saying anything, he remained silent. He figured that would be the best course of action for now.

The young girl came up to him and smiled. Her round cheeks had a healthy blush to them, which made her seem like a kind person, at least to Dante. "If you're lost, I can take you back!" she exclaimed. "My daddy and me always walk around in this forest looking for these really pretty flowers!" Suddenly, the girl gasped softly, which made Dante flinch in surprise. "Do you want to look for the flowers right now?"

"Eh?"

"Come on!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him up. Her strength surprised him slightly.

Dante stumbled along as the girl blazed through the area. He was still too taken aback by her that he couldn't find the courage to tell her to stop.

"Ah! There's one!" Happily, the girl let go of his hand and ran over to the base of a giant oak tree. She plucked out three small white flowers and brought them back over to him. "See? Aren't they pretty?" she held them out to him.

Dante blinked and simply nodded his head slightly.

"Can you talk?" the girl asked him, leaning forward and looking up at him.

Blushing, Dante nodded again.

"You should talk more then! You're as quiet as a bunny!" She giggled and then ran off to another tree, probably in search of more flowers. Her cyan colored pigtails seemed to bounce as she ran around frantically. After the third tree, the blue haired girl whipped around towards him and exclaimed, "you should look for some too! If you find a lot, you'll get lots of good luck!"

It seemed a bit childish to Dante, but he figured that he should play along...at least until she led him out of the forest.

"Found another one!"

He heard her running over to him and just as he turned around, a bunch of white flowers were in his face.

"Aren't they nice?" the girl asked, kneeling down beside him, messing up her pretty pink dress.

Dante nodded, staring at the small flowers. They emitted a little sweet scent and he found himself liking it.

"Do you want some?"

Before Dante could respond, he was handed a handful of the white flowers. He held them in his tiny fist, curiously staring at them as well.

"I'm going to give them to my daddy! He's a soldier in the Aegis and if I give him these flowers, he'll have lots and lots of good luck when he goes away!"

Dante stared at the girl and found her to be a bit odd; perhaps a bit airheaded as well. Despite this, he didn't feel necessarily _bad_ around her. In fact, he felt slightly better than he did before. He smiled a little at her, truthfully finding her happiness uplifting.

"Oh no..." She looked around the forest and then turned to him. "I think we're lost now. I forgot the way back." This piece of information didn't seem to slow her down though, as he had expected of her. She simply laughed it off. "Don't worry! Now we can get lost together!"

The little boy blinked his red eyes at her for a while. Slowly, he smiled and finally he let out a soft laugh.

* * *

"Dante! We're lost, aren't we?"

"Idiot, of course not."

Alice sighed tiredly and whined. "We are! We passed by that really mossy tree three times now!" She lagged behind him, dragging the soles of her boots on the leafy forest floor. As she stared at the ground, she glanced over to the side.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, startling Dante.

He whipped around and shouted, "don't do that! Do you realize-?"

"Dante! Look!" Alice plucked a few white flowers from the ground and showed them to him. Happily, she walked up to him. "These are good luck flowers! If you collect a lot, you get more good luck!"

"...That's ridiculous. It's the silliest thing I've ever heard." Dante scoffed before one of the flowers was held out to him.

"Here."

"What?"

"We need all the luck we can get if we want to make it out of this forest!" Alice said stubbornly.

"You're such a child. You still believe in good luck charms?"

"It helps!"

"Fine," Dante grumbled, snatching the flower away from her. As he did that, he caught a whiff of the flower's sweet scent. It felt...slightly nostalgic to him.

Alice smiled up at him and exclaimed, "now we'll find a way out!"

"What? Just because we have this flower?"

"Of course!"

Dante stood back as Alice marched off in front of him. He couldn't help it, but let out a soft chuckle at her silly antics. Making sure that she didn't notice, he brought the flower up to his nose and smelled it. "You didn't change at all, did you?" he asked as he followed her.

* * *

**A/N **_This was just an extra chapter, so it doesn't fit in with the main storyline. _

_By the way, I have a poll up on my profile and it asks 'who is your favorite male character?' in this fanfic. I'd love to see the results so please vote on my profile or leave a review. _

_Anyways, this is the second to last extra chapter I'll be posting to this story. The last extra chapter will feature a 'love potion.' -hint hint- _

_Also, if some of you don't know already...I've already posted the "prologue" for the sequel. The sequel is titled, "Aegis: Fragments" _

_Hope you guys enjoyed this extra!_


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